Little Miracles
by BellaChristopher
Summary: Bella and Edward are your average newly wed couple, but things are about to change. But when Edward gets drafted into the army, how will Bella cope, especially with a miracle or two on the way? Please R&R! All human
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The Wedding

Looking up into his emerald eyes, there was no way anyone could deny the love that was there. If it weren't for the reminding pinch on my arm from my maid of honor, I would've missed my cue to answer the pastor. "I do," I said in a surprisingly clear voice.

"You may now kiss the bride," the pastor announced with a smile.

My love cupped my face with his hands, his eyes begging me not to go out of control. I scowled at him in response, and he shot me a crooked grin that nearly made me faint. While I was still recovering, he brought his lips to mine in a slow, deliberate kiss. I put my arms around his neck, trying to get closer. He pulled back, and resituated us so his arm was around my waist.

Those in the audience cheered, and I blushed crimson. I looked over at my fiancée- I mean husband, and saw the brightest smile lighting up his features. He looked at me, some of his bronze hair flopping in his eyes. With a small smile, I pushed it back gently, and continued to stare at him.

As the crowd converged on us, he tightened his grip around my waist, pulling me closer. He was trying to prevent us being separated, but in my mind I knew he was attempting to prevent the inevitable, because at that moment I saw my over eager maid of honor and beautiful bridesmaid working their way through the throng of people straight toward us.

When my maid of honor saw me looking at her, she sped up, pushing innocent bystanders into each other just so she could be the first to greet me.

She arrived, and went to throw herself at me, but my savior pulled me behind his back. I peeked out from behind his shoulder, grinning impishly at the scowling faces of my best friends. I had caught them in the middle of an argument.

"Edward, for God's sake, you're going to be spending the rest of your gosh darn life with Bella, let us have her for one minute!"

He shook his head. "Alice, the wedding night is all about the bride and groom, not the maid of honor!"

She glared at him, her normally jaunty eyes dark and flat. I could tell she was trying to hold back the "naughty words" that she couldn't say anymore because of a certain someone. "Edward Anthony Cullen, if you ever want to have children with your wife, then you'd better let me talk to her." She pointed menacingly at the four inch heels that she was wearing.

Edward visibly flinched, but was saved from answering by a little tugging on my dress. I turned around, and saw my little godson. "AJ!" I squealed, scooping him up and twirling around. His floppy black hair nearly fell in his gray eyes, and his adorable dimples were like craters in his cheeks.

"Bewwa!" he cheered, smothering me in a sloppy three-year-old kiss. He laughed the sound like music. "Did I do good as a wing beawew?" he asked seriously.

"You were the best little ring bearer that I could have gotten," I told him. His face lit up like a Christmas tree at the compliment, and he clapped his hands merrily.

"HEY!" a very annoyed Alice shouted. "How come my little munchkin can meet the bride, but I can't???"

"I love him more, don't you know that Alice?" I said sweetly. But AJ was already squirming to make a break away. "Hey, hey, hey!" I said, trying to calm him. "Ring bearers get a special treat, don't you know?"

He immediately stopped and looked at me with wide eyes. "What?" he asked eagerly. It was so easy to get him excited.

"You, get to have the biggest piece of cake you want."

His eyes widened, if that's even possible. "Is it chocwate?" he asked me trying not to sound too eager.

"Of course, silly," I told him, poking him on the nose. "Chocolate is the very best cake. Now go find your daddy and tell him that Bella said you could have the biggest piece of cake you want."

"Ok!" he cheered, racing off in search of his dad.

I sighed. I couldn't believe that a couple years ago, he wasn't wanted at all. Alice was 18 and Jasper was 19 when he was born, and they were both shunned by their parents for deciding to keep him. Alice constantly says that she'll never wish that he wasn't born, but I can often see her longing to shop at stores that are much too expensive for her low budget. We help them inconspicuously, for they are both much too stubborn to accept help openly.

While Edward and I were distracted, Alice broke through our defenses and attacked me with hugs. "Come join the love fest, Rose!" she called over her shoulder. Rosalie shrugged, and joined us to make a mini group hug.

When they weren't looking, I mouthed, "Help," to Edward over Alice's short shoulder, but he just grinned.

"Uh… I need to have a chat with my best man," he said, turning and walking off into the throng. Of course, they could care less if they talked to him. They all wanted to see the blushing bride. Figures.

"Um… Alice? I think other people want to see me too," I pointed out, trying to squirm away from her strong grasp. I looked nervously at the other guests were milling around, waiting to hug me, kiss me on the cheek, tell me how lucky I was, etc.

She groaned, but let me go. Instantly, I was in the sobbing arms of my mother. Renee looked very much like me, but she was tan from living in Florida versus Washington. Her brown hair was shoulder length, and her blue eyes swam with tears as she mumbled something incomprehensibly in my ear.

I just shh'ed her and gave her a pat on the back to sooth her before my dad pulled her away and came in for a hug of his own.

"You look beautiful, Bella," he murmured in my ear. I looked into his crinkled brown eyes that looked exactly like my own and could only find happiness.

"Thank you so much, Dad," I told him. I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, and then was passed on to the next person.

Not long after, I was headed straight for the one person I didn't want to be by. I tried to turn around, but his long, russet arms were already around my waist, pulling me up against him, tight.

I flinched, but turned to face him, figuring it would be better to get this over with. "Hello, Jake," I said, keeping my tone light and uncommitted.

"Hey, gorgeous," he whispered in my ear. I shivered, unintentionally, and his answering grin was enough to make my blood boil. "How bout a nice kiss for the runner up?" he asked, his hot breath blowing into my face. I turned to the side, trying to avoid what was sure to come. He was way too strong for me to fight off, and none of the guests were paying any attention to us.

Roughly, he turned my head to face him, and began to move slowly to my lips, trying to prolong my pain apparently. I closed my eyes, and shut down, willing it to end quickly.

There was a loud smack, and suddenly, I was falling. Down, down, down. With an, "Oof," I was caught in some extremely muscular arms. They righted me, and as I tuned back to the present, I could hear the booming voice of my savior.

"What the hell, you effing moron!? What the hell do you think you're doing screwing around with my best friend's wife!?" he yelled so loudly that I shook against his vibrating body. He was holding my close, but it was protective, unlike Jacob's attempting-to-be-intimate grip.

Jake looked like he was debating whether or not to turn and run away. "I-I was just trying to… get a consolation prize, you know?" he asked, rubbing his swollen jaw. His words were slurred, and I could tell he had been hit pretty hard. Thank goodness I knew a good body builder.

"No, I don't know, bastard, because I've never been second best!" he yelled, spitting at Jake's feet. With that, he turned around, and began to carry me away. "Oh, and by the way," he said nonchalantly, turning around to face Jacob. "If you're not gone in five minutes, I'll be back… with reinforcements."

Jake's complexion paled, and he began to back slowly away. He paused, and started to ask, "Can I just-"

"Fuck off!"

With that, he turned and sprinted toward the parking lot. In just one moment, he was gone.

I looked up at Edward's best man and smiled, ruffling his curly brown hair. "Aw, Emmett! You saved me!" I gave him a sloppy kiss on the cheek and he grinned.

"Now, now, missy. We don't want your hubby-wubby to see you being like that with me," he scolded. His happy brown eyes twinkled with mischief, like always.

After a moment, I asked, "Um… can you put me down now?"

The playful glint left his eyes as he remembered why he was holding me. "Bella, why did you ever, ever, ever want to go out with that jerk?"

"You know, when I first moved here, he was the only one who liked me. You guys just thought I was some useless toe rag," I reminded him.

He frowned, clearly remembering the torture they'd put me through. "Hey, let's… let's just forget about it. And how about we don't tell Edward?"

I nodded, just as Jasper walked up. "What are you not telling Edward?" he asked curiously.

Before we could answer, there was a loud cry, and a chocolate covered AJ appeared behind Jasper, running right to me. I squealed and leaped away from his brown hands that would ruin my dress. He froze in his tracks, looking extremely disappointed that I'd run from him.

"Um… AJ, why don't you go talk to Daddy? It looks like he has a few questions for you…." I said, noticing Jazz for the first time.

He turned slowly to look into the furious eyes of Jasper. "What did you do? Jump in a chocolate fountain?" he quizzed AJ.

Emmett and I giggled, but were silenced with the death glare that Jazz sent towards us. AJ squirmed nervously, looking like he wanted to be anywhere but there. "Weww…. Bewwa said that I couwd have the biggest piece of chocwate cake I wanted since I was such a good wing beawew," he mumbled quickly.

"Hey! You ratted me out traitor!" I squeaked as Jasper's angry gaze turned to me. He looked like he was going to start chewing me out, but Emmett stepped in front of me.

"This is little Miss Bella's big day. Don't' ruin it by yelling at her," he said firmly, glaring coldly at Jazz. He shrugged, and turned his attention back to AJ.

"Aaron Jasper, you know that neither you or mommy are allowed to have sugar," he said angrily. It was true. If Alice or AJ got some extra sugar, they went haywire, bouncing everywhere. Jasper continued to stare down his son, when suddenly a grin split his face. "I'm not going to punish you," he said. Relief washed over AJ's face, and he sighed. "But, you have to tell your mommy why your one of a kind suit is ruined." AJ got so pale; I began to wonder if he was alive. Then with a cry, he launched himself at Jasper, sobbing uncontrollably.

He was hard enough to understand when he wasn't sobbing, three year olds just have that little stutter, but when he was crying, it was impossible. I could understand the gist though. He was scared shitless at the idea of confronting his mom, and I couldn't blame him.

So Jasper dragged a screaming AJ away, leaving me alone with Emmett again. "Uh, Emmett?" I asked smiling sweetly.

"Sup, Bella?"

"Do have any idea where my husband is? I haven't seen him, and he said he was looking for you…." I trailed off as realization dawned on Em's face.

"Um… yeah, see? Over there? He's the one surrounded by drooling girls," Emmett pointed over my head and I turned, worried what I would see.

Sure enough, he was enclosed by a bunch of salivating girls. I could tell by looking at his face for one second that he did not want to be there, but didn't want to be rude and ask the girls to leave. So, I decided to do him a favor, just because that's the kind of wonderful person I am.

"Hey, Edward!" I called sweetly, just loud enough that I knew he'd be able to hear me. His head snapped up, and I waved at him. He grinned, politely telling the now disappointed girls that he had to get going.

He trotted over, his tie askew, his messy hair more bedraggled than usual. "Dude, you were gettin' some while your poor wifey here was stuck with her supposed husband's best man!" Emmett cackled evilly.

"You know, Emmett," Edward said quietly, never taking his eyes off me, "there's a certain thing or two I could tell your girlfriend, if you're not careful. Now if you wouldn't mind, I believe it's time for my first dance with my one, and only wife." He looked up at Emmett for the briefest of instants, telling him with his eyes that he was dead serious.

"Uh… yeah… I um… gotta go find my wife. Um," he scratched the back of his head. "See yah!" he said before walking briskly away.

I looked up at Edward. "Are you serious about dancing with me?" I asked in a voice below a whisper.

He chuckled. "Of course I am, you silly girl. C'mon, everyone takes the first dance when they get married."

"I bet paralyzed people don't," I muttered angrily beneath my breath. Somehow, Edward heard me, and he shook his head in mock horror.

"Bella, really. I thought that you would be cooperative, if not just for tonight!" he said with a sigh. "I guess… I guess I'll just have to go back to those girls. At least I'm appreciated there," he began to walk jauntily away, but I grabbed the back of his tux before he could get too far.

"One dance," I said through gritted teeth, beyond angry at what he had said to make me stay with him. I knew that any of those girls would be better for Edward, because in all honesty, I am no where near pretty enough.

"Great!" he said, picking me up and swirling me around. "I picked a great song, I promise you. And, as an added bonus, you don't really have to dance."

"What?" I said, dumbfounded. He did all of that, and now he wasn't even going to make me dance with him? Sometimes I seriously wonder what is going on in his brain.

Without answering me, he picked me up and put my feet on top of his, just like my dad did with me when I was little. Jeez. Now I feel like a giant toddler. Claire De Lune started playing, soft and sweet, in the background, and Edward began to twirl us around gracefully. I almost liked it for a second, but then I realized it was just the fact that I was with the most perfect man in the world.

"You know," Edward murmured his lips to my ear. I shivered involuntarily, and I felt him smile. "I was thinking that maybe I should be the only one you dance with. After all, I hardly got to see you earlier, and I don't want anyone stealing you away." His voice hardened at the end and I realized that he knew I had been with Jacob.

"Ok," I said nonchalantly. "No one should mind too much. They all got to see me when I was passed around without my husband," I said, playfully smacking him on the arm.

He grinned his crooked smile at me, and we just danced in silence for a while. More couples started to twirl around us after a while. I saw Alice and Jasper with a now clean AJ balanced on his shoulders. They were smiling and leaning in toward each other, closer and closer, until their lips met. With a laugh, AJ tugged Jasper's hair and they pulled apart, all smiles.

I sighed, almost silently. But I guess it wasn't silent enough.

"What is it, Bella?" he asked, concern coloring his voice. I shook my head, but he was persistent. "C'mon, Bella! You need to tell me, please," he begged. Edward's fatal flaw – he couldn't let me be sad for any period of time. It was making me extremely spoiled.

"I… I just…" Unable to say put what I was feeling into words, I looked over at Alice, Jazz, and AJ. Edward's gaze followed mine, and I knew that he understood immediately.

"I'm jealous too, Bella, but really there's nothing to be jealous of. They are barely able to afford him, and we would be just like that. Do you really want to bring us a child when we aren't financially stable?"

The question was rhetorical, but I still had to bite my lip to hold back the instantaneous, "Yes!" that wanted to escape. "I know, Edward. I know," I mumbled, lying my head on his chest. He gently stroked my hair, still twirling us expertly around the dance floor. I knew that this wasn't the end of this conversation, but it was over for tonight at least.

People started leaving not long after, and we had to stop our surprisingly enjoyable dance to thank them for all the useless gifts they'd gotten us. But of course, no one would leave until they saw us out. We didn't have a limo or anything, it was just Edward's fancy black Mercedes. As we ran toward it, rice was thrown at us with unerring force. I took a couple in the back of the head, and I'm guessing they're from Emmett.

As he was letting me in the passenger side, a piece of rice got stuck in Edward's ear. He started dancing around and shaking his head, trying desperately to get it out. I sat in the safety of the car, watching with amusement as my husband made a fool of himself. It was nice that it wasn't me for a change.

I could hear Emmett's loud guffaw in the distance, and it was obvious that he had thrown that unfortunate piece of rice. Finally, it flew out, and of course, Edward had to get Emmett back. So, yelling like a lunatic, he jumped forward and shoved the offending piece of rice up Emmett's nose.

Edward cackled, flicking Emmett the bird, before sprinting to the car before his older and stronger brother could get him. I laughed as I watched Emmett, standing there with this shocked expression on his face. Casually, he held closed the nostril that didn't have a foreign object up it, and blew. The piece of rice shot through the air like a bullet, nailing Mike Newton in the back of the head. And then, I started to laugh.

Edward drove us out of sight of the house, and then he too began to laugh hysterically, tears streaming down both of our faces. We just sat there, laughing and crying, for who knows how long.

All I can say is, if this is any indication of how the rest of our life will be, I actually won't mind the whole marriage part.

**Alright, so this is a new story and I have a lot of plans for it. I won't start my rambling so soon, I mean, I don't want to scare away any readers! Just please review, because they really fuel my imagination. Suggestions and comments are welcome (flames too) and I will respond to all non anonymous reviews. **

**I will be updating my other stories, so do not worry!**

**~BellaChristopher**


	2. Chapter 2

**Recap:**

_Edward drove us out of sight of the house, and then he too began to laugh hysterically, tears streaming down both of our faces. We just sat there, laughing and crying, for who knows how long._

_All I can say is, if this is any indication of how the rest of our life will be, I actually won't mind the whole marriage part._

Chapter 2

Honeymoon

Once we were able to subdue our laughter, I asked the question that's been nagging me for the whole night. "So… where are we going now?" Edward had yet to tell me, and he wouldn't even let me pack my bags because then I'd "discover" where we were going.

He smirked at me. "You'll see eventually, love. Be patient, won't you?" I frowned, and that only made him smile more.

"I am patient! I just hate surprises," I said glumly.

"Well, I'm not going to tell you where we're going, no matter how hard you beg."

I rolled my eyes. And he called me stubborn! Jeez. "Fine, fine, fine. Let's just get out of here before everyone sees us."

"As you wish, Mrs. Cullen," he said with a coy smile.

I smiled back at him. "You have no idea how nice that sounds."

"Mmmm, I think I do, actually."

We rode in silence mostly until we reached the airport where he got tickets for us to go to… "Connecticut?" I asked. "Why in the world are we going to Connecticut???" I mean, don't get me wrong, I love all fifty states, but I was kinda expecting our honeymoon to be somewhere… warmer!

"Trust me, Bella. Please," he begged, looking me full on in the eyes.

My resolve crumbled instantly. Curse him and his stupid dazzle powers. "Okay, fine. But I am not, not, not going to hike anywhere. Comprende?"

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever. You know, I thought you were more daring," he pointed out.

"Well I have no idea where in the world you got that idea. Let me put why I hate hiking into words that you'll understand – I can hardly walk across a flat surface without tripping. Add a bunch of bushes and tree-roots that want to kill me, you've basically got why I hate hiking," I stopped my ramblings, blushing furiously, hoping that I hadn't bored him. I peeked through my lashes at his face, and his green eyes looked intently back at me.

"Well, at least you can defend your fears," he said with a shrug.

"I… I didn't bore you?" I asked in a small voice.

His laugh was enough to make me smile. "Quite the opposite, actually! I keep thinking I know what you're going to say or do, and then you do the exact reverse! It keeps me on my toes. I doubt that I'll ever be bored of you," he said, smiling sweetly down at me. I relaxed instantly, his reassurances making me feel much better. "C'mon, we've gotta hurry so we won't miss our flight." He twined his fingers in mine, making goose bumps rise up all across my arm.

Once we did get on the plane, my exhaustion caught up with me, and I found myself slipping into unconsciousness, my head on my love's shoulder.

**EPOV**

I watched with a smile as my angel's eyes slid shut, promising a good sleep. Her head was on my shoulder, her mahogany hair spread out like a fan.

It looked awful uncomfortable to use a shoulder for a pillow, so I called the flight attendant over. Thankfully, it was a male; I don't need any more ladies falling over me.

"Could I get a pillow for your girlfriend, sir?" he asked softly so as not to wake her.

"My wife, actually, and yes a pillow and blanket please," I said, smiling as I got to say, "My wife." I don't think I will ever get over how happy saying that makes me feel.

"Here you are, sir. Enjoy your flight," he said, handing me the pillow and blanket.

I nodded in acknowledgement as I tried to figure out how best to do this. Tactfully, I picked up her head and put the pillow down so that she'd be more comfortable. Then, I laid the blanket over her slender body and continued to watch her sleep. I wondered if she was too exhausted to talk like she normally does, when she began murmuring.

"Mmmm…. Edward, I looovvvvveeee yooouuuuuu!" she mumbled in a singsong-y voice, I chuckled as she continued. "I loovveee you thissss much!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms out, and successfully whacking me in the forehead. I tried to stifle the pained yelp that wanted to escape my lips, but a little squeak came through, loud enough to wake my love.

Her chocolate brown eyes gazed up at me, confused at first, then more focused. "Oh, jeez, Edward. What happened to your head?" she asked, looking appalled. She gently fingered the area where she had hit me moments before.

"Um… I just… It's from the rice! Someone threw a huge handful and it hit me in the forehead. How bad does it look?" I asked leaning toward her.

"Hmmm…" she said, leaning closer to me. "Pretty bad, I'd say. Hey, how's about I help you forget about that tragic injury?"

Before I could respond, her lips met mine, and I nearly fell back in shock. God, she kissed so good. Our lips moved in tandem, fitting together like the pieces of a puzzle. Her tongue slithered across my bottom lip, and I opened my mouth willingly, allowing her entrance.

A low moan escaped my throat, and I pulled back suddenly. Bella sat back against the window, breathing hard and trying to disguise her hurt.

"Sorry," I panted. "I just really did not want to get carried away on an airplane. I've waited this long, I can wait a couple more hours." She blushed, realizing what I meant, and I smiled, loving the extra color it added to her cheeks.

"Oh… well I guess I can't be too mad then," she said with a small smile. Her mouth opened in an "O" as she yawned. I kissed her forehead as her eyes fluttered closed again.

"Sleep, my love," I said softly as my eyes shut, turning me over to the land of sleep and dreams.

**BPOV**

"Bella, you need to wake up, sweetie," Edward's musical voice whispered in my ear. I grumbled but pulled myself up to a sitting position.

"Oh. My. Goodness!" I exclaimed.

"What? Bella, what is it? Are you hurt?" Edward asked nervously, his eyes screaming for me to tell him what was the matter.

"Look at my hair!" I wailed softly, not wanting the other passengers to think I'm a total wacko. "I'll never be able to work a brush through this!" I gestured angrily at my hair.

He rolled his eyes. "Jeez, Bella, when did you become a girly-girl?"

"When your psycho, shopaholic, hyper, midget of a sister became my best friend," I snapped. "Do you by chance have a brush?"

He nodded, quickly pulling the hairbrush out of his bag and handing it to me. "Ah, thank you so much!" I said after the mass of brown that I call hair looked decent enough.

"You're welcome, m'lady," Edward said, bowing sarcastically at me. "Now, we'd better hurry or we'll be on our way to…" he paused, checking the flight schedule, "Alaska!"

I screamed in terror. "Not Alaska!" I shouted, loud enough for heads to turn and stare at me.

Edward looked at me, confused. "What's wrong with Alaska?" he asked curiously.

I blushed looking away. "Nothing," I said unconvincingly, refusing stoically to meet his gaze.

"Bella," he said, using the demanding voice. But, magically, I continued to ignore him. He sighed, then I felt his cool fingers on my chin, turning me to face him. "What's. Wrong. With. Alaska?"

"TanyaandtheDenali'slivethereandIdonotwanttoseethem," I mumbled quickly.

He cocked his head to the side. "I'm sorry, what was that," he asked sweetly, holding a hand behind his ear.

"Alice said… Alice said you guys knew these people, the Denali's, and she said one of them has a thing for you and they live in Alaska and I bet whoever she is she's wayy prettier than me and – "

Edward's cool fingers on my lips silenced my hysterical babbling. "Really, Bella? We're married now! I mean… ugh!" he groaned in frustration, sounding so much like me that I giggled.

He looked at me, confused. "What?"

I smiled. "When you said, 'Ugh!' it sounded like me and I think it's bad that you're taking my habits with you. Next thing you know, you'll be stomping your foot like the Drama King you are on the inside!"

He rolled his eyes. "Let's just get you off of this plane. It's making you go bonkers." His hand found mine and our fingers wove together, giving me peace. "And remember, Bella," he said, his eyes meeting mine. "You, are the only one for me. Nothing will ever change that."

* * *

Gravel crackled underneath the taxi's tires as it pulled through the long drive. "Can I open my eyes yet?" I complained. "I feel so helpless!"

"Yeah because you're sooo not helpless even when you can see," Edward said sarcastically.

I smacked him on the arm. "Ha! Not so helpless now am I?" I challenged him.

"I didn't try to dodge you," he said.

"Excuses, excuses," I mumbled, waving my hand around.

"We're here, sir," the taxi driver said.

"Thanks, Gino. How much do I owe you?" As they continued to chat, a cold sweat broke out on my forehead. This is it. The moment we've all been waiting for ladies and gentlemen. And yet, I was scared out of my mind.

"Alrighty, c'mere, Bella. I'll help you get up the steps." Edward's hand slipped into mine as he pulled me out of the car and toward the house. Unexpectedly, he scooped me up and began to carry me. I yelped in surprise.

"What the heck, Edward?" I giggled.

"I'm carrying you over the threshold, silly," he said, poking me in the nose. "It's just another of those gosh darn traditions that we have to follow."

I swallowed hard, trying to move the lump of fear in my throat down. I was not ready, not ready at all.

"Um… let me go get the luggage. Don't open your eyes okay?" Edward said. I could hardly detect the hint of nervousness beneath his calm demeanor, and it was only because I have known him so long.

"Okay," I squeaked. He was gone in a flash, leaving me hyperventilating on the doorstep. Oh God, what have I gotten myself into?

**EPOV**

I was freaking out, and that was the understatement of the century! I mean… I'm beyond nervous! They honeymoon? Yeah, that's right. Most men salivate at the thought but I am trembling in my boots.

I grabbed the luggage from Gino's taxi and gave him a tip, he was the only man I've ever known not to stare at my wife with longing. He get's brownie points for that, for sure!

I took an extra moment waiting outside the cottage, frightened beyond words. But I couldn't back down, no. Emmett would never let me hear the end of it, and just imagining the pain it would cause my Bella made my heart clench. No, I had to be strong.

With that, I opened the door, ready to face whatever fate threw at me.

**BPOV**

I heard the door open and Edward walk in nearly silently. He dropped the luggage by the door and came over to me, putting his arms around my waist. "You can open your eyes now," he whispered in my ear.

I shivered and snapped my eyes open, amazed at what I saw. "It's… it's… it's beautiful, Edward," I said in amazement.

He smiled crookedly, making my heart stutter. "I knew you would."

It was an adorable, rustic log cabin with a high, pointed ceiling. Elegant chandeliers hung high above our heads, casting a soothing glow over the peaceful environment. A fire crackled in the stone fireplace, a lush loveseat located directly in front of it. In the corner, there was an old piano that shined like it was brand new. A soft, white carpet sat beneath our feet, and you could hear birds chirping through the open windows.

"Do you want to see the bedroom?" he asked seductively, nipping my ear. I was glad that he had let me admire the room first; always the gentleman, that's our Edward.

But was I ready for this? Was I ready really? Looking into the ecstatic eyes of my husband, I realized that it didn't matter. I knew, without a doubt, that tonight would be the best night of my life. I might as well enjoy it.

Taking a deep breath, I bottled all my fears inside of me, begging myself to be brave, if not for myself, then for him. "Definitely," I said, turning around and tracing his perfect lips with my finger.

He scooped me up, his lips urgent, yet soft against my own. We were in the bedroom in moments, and he laid me on the bed, crawling on top of me so I knew he was there, yet couldn't feel his weight.

Between kisses he asked, "Are you sure about this, Bella?"

I nodded. "More sure than I have been about anything before." With that, I pulled his head to mine, and our lips met, making me moan.

I was sure, this was definitely the best night ever.

**Okay, first of all, I do not own Twilight or any of the characters! Just had to get that out of the way so secret service won't come attack me. **

**First of all, I'd like to thank the two people who reviewed.**

**Loulabelle**

**And**

**You guys rock, and you made my day! Please review!**

**~BellaChristopher**


	3. Chapter 3

**Recap:**

_Between kisses he asked, "Are you sure about this, Bella?"_

_I nodded. "More sure than I have been about anything before." With that, I pulled his head to mine, and our lips met, making me moan. _

_I was sure, this was definitely the best night ever._

Chapter 3

The Denali's

When I woke up the next morning, I was feeling happier than I'd felt in a while. The sun was shining through the window at an odd angle, and I wondered idly what time it was. I kept my eyes closed, enjoying its warmth on my skin. Peeking through my lashes, I looked at Edward, wondering if he was still asleep. Turns out, my head was on his chest and his was on the pillow where it belonged. He was still asleep, and he looked so peaceful.

Whenever he's awake, there's always something off about him, how he's never ever totally relaxed. When he was asleep, however, he was innocent and calm, peaceful too, like he never was while awake.

His bronze hair was extra messy, just like every morning, and I wondered when I'd see his bright green eyes.

As if reading my mind, his eyes fluttered open, blinking once or twice, before focusing on me. He smiled crookedly, my heart thudded, and reached out to stroke my cheek with his hand. "Hey, beautiful," he murmured huskily, bringing back a rush of memories from the night before.

"Hi," I said, smiling softly and holding his hand to my cheek. I snuggled closer to him, and my stomach rumbled. Not wanting to be outdone, his grumbled louder and I laughed along with him. "Maybe we should get some breakfast… I'll cook," I offered.

He smiled. "If you insist. C'mon, you'd better come see if what Alice packed is appropriate." A mischievous glint lit his green eyes, and I wondered what in the world he was thinking.

"More than likely, they aren't," I pointed out.

He laughed loudly, and led me to the closet where all our clothes were stashed. "Oh… my… God!" I said, completely in wonder. "What the…" I trailed off as I looked at hook after hook of flimsy beach-wear. Short shorts, barely big enough to cover my butt, tank tops, halter tops, sundresses, anything you could imagine someone running around in over the summer.

Edward groaned. "I guess a shopping trip is in order."

"What the hell was she thinking!? We're in freaking Alaska, for Pete's sake!" I shouted, throwing my hands in the air in exasperation. "What am I even supposed to wear when we go shopping?"

He shrugged. "I have no idea whatsoever. Why don't you just put on the stuff from last night?"

"And look like a total frump? No way Jose!" I exclaimed, backing away from him as if he were psycho.

He rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll wear my stuff from last night too so you won't feel like a total loser, all right?"

"You'll still look good," I pointed out grumpily. "You could wear dishrags and not look like an idiot."

He glared at me. "You seriously undervalue yourself, young lady," he said disapprovingly.

"You're supposed to say that. We're married!" I scoffed.

A smile lit up his features. "Oh yeah! I forgot now I can legally keep you forever." His arms snaked around my waist, and he kissed my cheek.

I blushed, stuttering, completely forgetting my sharp comeback. "Okay, fine. I don't really care what we wear as long as we can get some food!" I paused, thinking. "This… this place does have food, right?"

"I had them deliver some last night before we got here. Fully stocked fridge and everything, okay? I'm pretty sure you can make something from that."

"I think I'm gonna have you make breakfast. Change of pace, you know?" I eyed him, and he looked nervous.

"Uhh… okay? I'll go turn on the food network!" he said turning and sprinting toward the T.V.

I rolled my eyes and began putting on my jeans and button up tee from last night. I was prepared to have to flee the house; last time Edward tried to cook, he nearly burned the house down. I just hoped he wouldn't ruin our honeymoon with his inability to cook.

Ten minutes later, he called me down, looking proud. I was cautious. "What'd yah make?" I asked, staying as far away from the stove as I could.

"Omelets!" he crowed, looking so happy it made my heart ache (in a good way of course). "They have some tomatoes, bacon, and cheese. You like all that right?"

"Yeah, of course! Just… you take the first bite, okay? Not that I don't trust you or anything, 'cause I mean, we're married so of course I trust you and –"

He interrupted my nervous babble with a quick kiss on the lips. "Don't worry; I'll take the first bite. It looks just like Emeril's did on T.V. so I think it's okay…" he trailed off, looking nervous.

"Or I could just make us something," I offered heading toward the fridge.

"No, no, no! Look I'm eating it!" he quickly shoved a forkful in his mouth. "Huh… That was actually kinda good!" Chunks of half-chewed egg flew out of his mouth.

"Ew! Gross, Edward!" I screeched jumping to avoid the falling mush. He was too busy shoveling his omelet into his mouth to pay any attention.

"Mmmm. Seriously, Bella, you have to try it! I don't think Emeril could even make it better," he said, waving my untouched plate under my nose.

I rolled my eyes, but sat down right next to him. His plate was empty, so he just sat there, staring at me expectantly. Experimentally, I picked up my fork and began to poke the eggs. The looked normal.

"Oh, come on! Hurry, hurry, hurry!" he cheered.

"Why should I hurry?"

"Because if you don't eat it, I'M gonna eat it! You have till the count of ten. One…"

"Okay, okay!" I giggled. In slow-mo, I began to lower my fork to the eggs.

"Five… Six… Seven…"

I got a little piece on my fork and casually flicked it into my mouth. My eyes widened, and I choked.

"Nine – Bella? Bella are you okay?" Edward was holding me in an instant.

I bent down, then sat up quickly, smiling.

"Bella? Bella?"

"GOTCHA!" I yelled poking him in the chest.

He looked at me, confused. "What the…"

"I was just kidding, silly. Your eggs are very, very yummy. I wouldn't say better than Emeril, but definitely good. Now c'mon, let's go do something."

"Shopping time?"

I groaned. "Shopping time."

* * *

We stepped out of the mall, arms heavy with bags for the both of us. "Ugh, I think my arms are going to break! How do Alice and Rose carry soo much???" I groaned.

Edward chuckled. "Simple, they bring Emmett and Jasper." We both laughed. "You know, shopping with you is far better than shopping with Alice."

Miffed, I asked, "Is that a complement?"

"Of course! The world does not need another shopaholic girl like Alice."

We loaded up the car with our belongings and got in. "Where to now, Captain Edward?" I asked with a salute.

"Lunch? I know a great place."

"Sure. Your omelet, though delicious, was not very filling."

"Gee, thanks."

After a moment of silence, I asked, "How far is it?"

"We… are… here!"

He pulled us into the parking lot of some mid-class restaurant, not fancy but not fast food. It was called Italia Cuisine, and it looked like they made some darn good sandwiches. "Couldn't we just go to Subway and get the same thing for about one hundred dollars less?" I pointed out.

He rolled his eyes. "Yes, but then I wouldn't really be pampering you, now would I?" I opened my mouth to argue, but he cut me off. "Just go with it, love."

I grumbled, but allowed him to lead me out of the car and into the restaurant. I must admit, it was a really nice place, much better than Subway (no offense!) We got a little table in the corner, and we chatted quietly as we scanned the menus.

I finally decided on a simple BLT on whole wheat bread, something I've loved since I was little. Edward got a huge something or other, the only thing I know is that it had every ingredient possible on it.

There weren't many other people there, so when the door opened, I automatically looked up. To say I was stunned by what I saw would be the understatement of the century. My mouth went dry, and I froze, midsentence, with my sandwich halfway to my mouth.

"Bella? Bella, are you okay?" Edward asked, concern clear in his voice. His eyes followed my gaze, and I saw them harden. "Oh. Hey, why don't we go home? There's a little something I'd like to do…" he said seductively in a trying-to-be-cheerful voice.

"Who are they?" I asked in awe. For at the moment, I was staring at some of the most gorgeous people my eyes had ever touched. There was a slender blonde with stick straight hair, another curvier strawberry blonde with bouncy curls, and a third blond sickly skinny blonde with little waves in her hair. They were obviously related, and looked to be about our age.

"The one with the straight hair, that's Kate." Her eyes flashed up as if she could hear Edward across the room. She motioned to her sisters, and they began their slow saunter to come greet us. "The one with the curly strawberry blonde hair is Tanya, and the third is Irina." His words flew out of his mouth so fast they tumbled over each other.

"Gosh, they're good looking," I said, too distracted to notice Edward's fear.

"Listen, Bella, before they get here, there's something you should know," Edward whispered so that they couldn't hear. His tone was urgent, but I ignored it.

"Who do you think is prettier, Rosalie or Tanya?" I asked curiously. In my books it was a tie (don't tell Rose!)

"Bella!" Edward grabbed my chin and turned me to face him.

"What!?" I asked, exasperated. He was being a serious downer. I wonder what's up.

"Bella, listen," his desperate tone caught and held my attention. "Bella, I know them."

"Well, duh!" I said with a laugh. "You just single handedly told me all of their names. Just eat your sandwich in peace." I tried to get my face out of his hand, but his hold was steel tight. His eyes pleaded with me to understand, but exactly what, I wasn't sure.

With a deep breath, he finally spoke.

"Bella, Tanya was my girlfriend."

**Ooh cliffhanger! Haha. Thanks so much to**

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	4. Chapter 4

**Recap:**

_His eyes pleaded with me to understand, but exactly what, I wasn't sure._

_With a deep breath, he finally spoke._

"_Bella, Tanya was my girlfriend."_

Chapter Four

Unexpected Surprise

Whoa. Okay. Definitely not expecting the gorgeous blonde to have been his girlfriend! I mean, sure I knew Edward has dated before he met me, but I never really thought about who he would date. Of course, he would get pick of the group, being the man everyone drooled over, and I could clearly tell that Tanya was the girl that most guys would die to be with. I already knew Edward had been with one of the Denali's, I just would've thought it was Irina. Not that she wasn't pretty, but she was pretty in a plain way, unlike Kate and Tanya who were more extravagant.

"Edward, it is so nice to see you again! You never do visit, even though you promised," Tanya cooed, going forward to hug him. He subtly scooted his chair back a foot.

"Irina. Kate. Tanya," he said nodding his head smoothly at each of them in turn, all of his past anxiety invisible to the untrained eye. "You seem to be doing well. How are Carmen and Eleazer?"

"Wonderful, of course. They don't live with us any longer, unfortunately. They wanted some more, uh, space, I suppose you could say," Tanya said. Kate laughed behind her back, and Irina was barely holding in a smirk. Tanya's eyes flickered to me for the first time. "Ah, Edward, I don't believe you've introduced us to your friend," she said, cocking her head curiously. Irina and Kate turned as well, and all three of the gorgeous girls stared at me.

"Well, Tanya, this would be my wife, Bella. We just got married, and we're here for our honeymoon," he said proudly, his chest puffed out.

"Oh, well… she has pretty eyes?" Tanya said, but it came out as more of a question. I was hurt. I've used that trick many times when people have not cute babies. You say, "Oh their eyes are very nice!" and then the parent isn't hurt.

"Yes, yes. They are a most wonderful shade of brown. Almost like… chocolate?" Irina puzzled.

"Mmhmm. Definitely chocolate. The very best of Ghirardelli's for sure," Kate said. She smiled sadly at me as if to say, 'Gosh, you have no idea what you have gotten yourself into.' I shuddered to think of what she meant by that. Then the three of them, as one, turned their attention back on Edward.

"It has been too long, friend. You must come see our home. I must say, there is some extravagant game nearby; you could hunt if you wish. We would love to get to better know your Bella."

"Oh, Tanya, honeymoons are for the couples only," he said, fake disappointment coloring his tone.

"There is quite an abundance of mountain lions, you know. The state says some must be killed, and I know no one who would get more enjoyment out of it. Please, come," she pleaded.

I could see his resolve wavering, so I kicked his shin under the table. His eyes shot to mine, and I moved my eyes, left to right, to let him know I was not okay with spending time with the Denali's. His widened as if to ask why, and I blinked them once to let him know I'd tell him later.

When we were in high school, senior year when Edward first moved to Forks, and our parents didn't know we were dating, we came up with a secret way to silently communicate. Otherwise, our parents would've easily found out when and where we were going to date, and whose house we would meet at. We couldn't discuss stuff like that at school or the other kids would hear and spread rumors, and in a town as small as Forks, even adults hear the latest gossip.

He stared at me hard, trying to decide whether I meant it or not. "Eddie, we're waiting," Tanya purred, running a finger gently down his neck. My blood boiled. I mean, she knows we're married and I'm sitting right there!!!

That seemed to bring Edward back to the present, and he slapped Tanya's hand away. She looked hurt, and I couldn't help but feel a little bit happy. "Sorry, Tanya, but honeymoons, like I told you before, are for the couple only. No exceptions. It was nice seeing you ladies, but we really must get going." He grabbed my hand and we raced out of there, leaving three stunned women and two half eaten sandwiches.

* * *

Once we were safely in the car, I began to gripe. "I thought you were just gonna go run off and hunt, leaving me with… them!" I shuddered.

"Aw, Bella! C'mon, you know I wouldn't do that to you," he argued, but it was pretty weak. I could tell he didn't even believe himself.

"Nuh-uh. If I hadn't kicked you, you would've ran right off and left me at the mercy of those skanks. Admit it," I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

He rolled his eyes. "Fine. I was very, very close to running away and leaving you defenseless. Happy?"

"No!" I shrieked, offended. "I would not have been defenseless! I am perfectly able of taking care of myself, thank you very much."

With a snort he said, "If you're so capable of taking care of yourself, then why were you scared out of your mind at the idea of being with the Denali girls without me?"

"Ugh!" I threw my hands up, hitting the roof of the rental car with a bang. Ouch. That hurt more than I thought it would. "You are soo frustrating!" I fumed.

The car stopped at a light, and he turned to glare at me. "I'm frustrating? Look at the girl who won't change her mind, no matter how much fact is shoved in her face!"

"Are you calling me… stubborn?" I asked, dumbfounded. Edward never called me names, even when I really deserved it. I must have really set him off.

"Yes, I believe I am," he said, equally shocked.

We continued to look at each other, wondering what the hell just happened, when a chorus of honks broke our stare-off. Edward put his foot on the gas, and we sped forward, leaving behind the crossroads and our very first fight.

* * *

We got back to the little cottage with a whole lot of free time ahead of us. "Would you like to see somewhere I go often?" Edward asked with a small smile. Seeing my worried expression, he added, "I always go there when I want some alone time. There aren't many places to escape to up here."

I agreed, and we were on our way. "We have to hike, you realize?" Edward pointed out.

"Oh, no," I grumbled. "I'll die! The tree roots will kill me for sure. Not to mention the brambles pulling and ripping my clothes?" I shivered. "No thank you!"

He sighed. "Bella, do you honestly think that I'd let a tree root kill you?"

"Or I could get gashed by sharp brambles," I murmured, hypnotized by his stare.

"Well, I think I may have to change that," he said, grabbing my face a pulling my lips gently to his, his warm hand cupping my cheek softly.

I panted as he pulled away, still holding my chin and caressing my cheek with his thumb. "Still worried about tree roots and brambles?" he asked in a quiet voice.

"Tree roots… trip and fall…" I choked out, unable to say anything more.

He shook his head and made a "tsk"ing noise. "Still? Well then. I am rather disappointed in the lack of trust you have in my ability to protect you."

"It's not you," I said, getting my voice back. "It's me! I'm so horribly klutzy, I'd – " I was cut off by his warm lips pushing against mine. My fingers automatically went to his hair, and we continued to kiss.

Finally, he pulled me off of him, both of us hyperventilating from lack of breath. "You still… worried?" he panted.

"N-no. I'm good," I stuttered.

"Good," he said hopping up. "Because we gotta get going if we want to get back before dark."

I was about to say something like, "Whaddaya mean, 'Before dark?'" but Edward's cell phone rang. He mouthed, "One second," to me and I shrugged.

"Hello? Oh, hey Jazz… What?... You can't be serious… Now?" there was a long pause, and Edward looked pained. "Alright. We'll get going. Be ready to explain completely when we get back… mmhmm. Okay. Bye." He hung up the phone and turned to face me.

"What – "

"Change of plans. We're heading home."

"Wait, but why?" I asked, completely confused.

Edward's expression was stony. "Jazz will explain everything when we get back."

He began to pull me away, but I dug my heels into the dirt. "Edward, what about you're special place? I really want to see it." I was grasping at straws, trying to do anything to make our honeymoon last longer.

He shook his head. "Some other time. We need to get home, now."

**Okay you guys, sorry for the short chapter, but I promise the next one will be longer! I figured a short update would be better than no update, so here you go!**

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	5. Chapter 5

**Recap:**

"_Change of plans. We're heading home."_

"_Wait, but why?" I asked, completely confused._

_Edward's expression was stony. "Jazz will explain everything when we get back."_

_He began to pull me away, but I dug my heels into the dirt. "Edward, what about you're special place? I really want to see it." I was grasping at straws, trying to do anything to make our honeymoon last longer._

_He shook his head. "Some other time. We need to get home, now."_

Chapter 5

Answers

Sensing that I was going to argue, he kicked my legs out from under me, then caught me before I hit the ground. Before I even knew what was happening, he was sprinting toward the car, carrying me bridal style. I responded with an indignant, "Hey!" which he oh so rudely ignored. I wondered what was bad enough to make him pretend like I didn't exist.

I tossed me into the front seat and I landed hard, letting out a squeak of pain. Ignoring that as well, he went to the driver's side and slid smoothly in, jamming the key in the ignition. We sped quickly out of the driveway, me holding onto the seat with a death grip.

The one time he looked over at me, he said, "Put on your seat belt, Bella," and I obliged immediately. Other than that, he didn't pay me a second glance.

Worries began to seep into my head. What if he was just dropping me off at Forks so I'd have someone to stay with while he went and eloped with Tanya? I noticed when he'd gone goo-goo eyed after she mentioned the hunting prospects, and I knew that if she could get him to go over to her house, she would make it so that he could never leave.

"Whatever you're thinking, it's wrong," he said through clenched teeth, interrupting my negative mind babble.

I was about to respond with a snappy, 'How do you know?' when I remembered that Edward had an annoying knack of being able to read people's minds. He'd always said that he couldn't read me as well as others, but I guess he was getting better the more time he spent with me. So instead, I said, "I wouldn't be thinking 'wrong things' if you'd just tell me why the hell we have to leave our honeymoon way, way before I wanted to."

He groaned. "Can't you just wait until we get home? I'd really rather Jasper explained," he begged.

"No," I said, stubborn, as always. "I want to hear it from you, my husband, not from my best friend's husband. Now spill." To add emphasis to the fact that I was not kidding, I crossed my arms menacingly across my chest.

His gaze hardened. "Honestly Bella, Jazz wouldn't tell me. He said it had to be told in person, so you have to wait just like me," he snapped with so much venom in his voice it made me shrink back against the car seat.

"Okay. Sorry," I said in a small frightened voice.

He looked over, his eyes filled with love, worry, and care instead of the anger and frustration I'd been seeing for the past hour. "I'm sorry, love. I'm just stressed. I have to make a quick call okay?"

I shrugged my shoulders noncommittally and stared out the window. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but decided better of it and turned away. Right now, honestly, I was a little irritated with him. I mean, our honeymoon wasn't really even a day long! In my opinion, that seemed really unfair. If Edward loves me like he says he does, couldn't he figure out a way around whatever was waiting at home?

In back of my mind, I could hear Edward arguing with someone heatedly, then, with an exasperated sigh, he hung up. "Bella?" he shook my shoulder gently, pulling me back to the present.

"What?" I spat, accidentally unleashing my venom on him. He recoiled and put his hands back on the steering wheel.

"Well, ah, I was trying to get us some airplane tickets so we could get home faster, but we'll just have to take the rental car," he said, gesturing to the car we were zooming down the road in.

"And how long will that take?" I asked apprehensively.

"Um… I was thinking maybe… maybe twenty four hours?" he said softly. I was about to interject but he interrupted me. "Please, please don't freak out. I can drive the whole way if it's a really big problem and I swear I'll drive as fast as I can and –"

"Wait, Edward, Edward, chill!" I commanded. "I'm so sorry for freaking out! I was thinking about how my honeymoon was ruined, and I never really thought about how you'd feel. I know it's hard for you too, and I'm sorry. I can drive part of the way if you want, I don't mind," I ended, pleading with him to understand.

He smiled. "We're both a little stressed, eh?" he laughed musically.

I laughed, too, and I knew that things would get better. If only I knew how very wrong I was.

* * *

We finally arrived at home at 8 o'clock the next night. Edward had refused to let me drive at all the entire way home, insisting I needed rest. In my opinion, he was being too much a gentleman. We had decided to meet at Esme and Carlisle's (Edward's parents') house because it was bigger and therefore could accommodate the large number of people who'd be there.

Edward parked the car, and pulled my face to his, crushing our lips together. His tongue darted quickly in, then out of my mouth. I moaned, and he pulled away, grinning impishly. "What was that for?" I panted, breathless.

He shrugged. "I haven't kissed you like that in a while. I missed it."

I rolled my eyes and said, "C'mon, let's go inside before you get any ideas." I grabbed his hand and tugged him out the door, then let him lead us inside.

When we entered, I thought we were in a morgue. Alice was sitting, stony faced, on the couch, curled up in the fetal position. Her eyes were red and blotchy, almost as if she'd been crying. When she saw me, she immediately jumped up, sobbing, and ran at me, pulling me into a tight hug. I tried to comfort her as I looked around the room. Jazz was sitting on the couch next to where Alice had been, holding a sleeping AJ. I couldn't tell any emotions from his face but I could tell a lot was going on in his head. On the armchair sat Emmett with Rosalie in his lap. Rose looked like she was about to pass out, and Em looked like he was going to throw up.

"W-what's going on?" I asked in a shaky voice. Jasper motioned for me and Edward to sit down, so I dragged Alice over to the couch with us. She curled up next to Jasper, grabbing her little boy from him. Edward and I sat next to them, staring worriedly from person to person.

Edward broke the silence. "What in the world is wrong?"

Jasper took a deep breath, and began. "Yesterday in the morning, I got a call from an unknown number. Normally, I wouldn't answer it, but they called repeatedly, over and over, so I figured I'd better answer. When I picked it up, it was some man telling me that I was… I was… I am… drafted."

There was a heavy silence where I gasped. "What? Oh, Jasper, I'm so sorry!" I went to hug him but he shook his head.

"There's more. So… once I found out I'd been enlisted in the army, I went to talk to Em. It turned out, he'd just gotten the same call," he said in a flat voice.

"What?" I cried.

"How do they need so many drafts? I thought there were plenty of willing recruits!" Edward exclaimed.

Jasper shook his head, and Emmett filled us in. "Apparently, our president," he said the word with as much venom and hate as possible, "thinks we need to send even more troops overseas. I don't know why, but I do know that he's on crack if he thinks I'm leaving my Rosie," Em said, wrapping his arm protectively around his trembling girlfriend. I noticed a ring on each of their left hands and mentally corrected myself. His fiancée.

Jazz took a deep breath, cutting off any side conversations. "Well, basically, we both freaked. How is it possible that they picked us both? And then, a thought struck me… what if Edward was enlisted too?" He shook his head solemnly. I knew what he was going to say before he said it, and I gripped Edward's arm tightly. "So… we went to your house and let ourselves in, and… there was a message on your phone. It was from the same man, telling you that you were enlisted."

I put a hand over my mouth as my eyes flooded with tears. This couldn't be happening. Not to us! Not to anyone! The tears fell freely now, there was no point in trying to hold them back. Alice and Rose, seeing my distress and knowing how I felt, came over to comfort me, but they were beaten by Edward.

He immediately pulled me to his chest and began stroking my hair, murmuring soft words in my ears trying to calm me down.

But how could he possibly think I could even consider being calm? He was going away, away, far away and no one but God knows if he would ever come back. I began to hyperventilate. No. No, no, no. He couldn't go and leave me here, all alone. I wouldn't know if he was alive or… I couldn't even bring myself to think the word.

I must have been making more noise than I thought, because soon A.J. was awake, his black curls sticking everywhere. "Bewwa, why awe you cwying?" he asked, his own gray eyes filling with tears at my sadness.

"Oh, baby," I cried, pulling him into my lap. "I'm just sad because Edward has to go away, and I don't want him to." The three-year-old version was short and sweet, and a lot less hurtful. If only all of life could be like that.

He patted my head, messing up my hair. "Is okay, Bewwa. Ewaw is a meanie."

I looked up to Alice for the translation, and she mouthed, "Edward is a meanie."

Suddenly, I heard a smack, and A.J. was standing next to a writhing Edward. "Aaron Jasper!" Alice shrieked. That little munchkin had just punched Edward in the head with all of his strength.

"That's fow makin Bewwa cwy meanie pants!" he shouted, preparing to strike Edward again. Thankfully, Jasper swooped in.

"I'm gonna go see if Carlisle and Esme can watch him." He began his trek up the stairs, holding a punching and kicking A.J. at arms length to avoid getting hit.

"You okay?" I asked Edward, feeling his head for a bruise.

He hissed in pain. "Yeah, just gonna have one hell of a bruise. Where did your kid learn to hit like that Alice?"

She shrugged, and came to sit by me. "I'm sorry." She whispered.

I shook my head. "No, don't be. Edward's only leaving me. Jasper is leaving you and A.J. He needs his dad, and I would do anything to make it so he could stay here."

Alice looked up, trying to avoid breaking down. "Will you stay over tonight?" I looked at Edward, thinking about how much I just wanted to stay with him, enjoy being with him as much as I could until he has to… leave. She pulled my face back to her. "Please," she choked in such a broken voice that I had no hope of refusing.

"Rosalie, you're gonna stay too. Boys, I don't care what you do, but tonight is a very necessary girls' night so none of you are invited." She paused and glared at them. "Except A.J.," she amended.

Emmett, Edward, and Jasper all grumbled, but filed out of the house, obviously not wanting to face the wrath of Alice. Before he left, Edward pulled me to him, kissing my lips hard but firm.

As he pulled away, he whispered in my ear, "Everything will be okay, I promise."

He turned and loped out the door, and for once I was glad he couldn't read me as well as others.

I was also glad he got out of there quickly so he didn't have to see the single lone tear that slid slowly down my cheek.

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	6. Chapter 6

**Recap:**

_As he pulled away, he whispered in my ear, "Everything will be okay, I promise."_

_He turned and loped out the door, and for once I was glad he couldn't read me as well as others._

_I was also glad he got out of there quickly so he didn't have to see the single lone tear that slid slowly down my cheek._

Chapter 6

Girl's Night

"First things first," Alice announced as soon as the boys were out the door. "Rose, go get A.J. from Carlisle and Esme while I raid their wine cellar. Bella, just stay here." She bounced away, but there was something off about her usually lithe stride. Rosalie didn't even attempt to cover up her sadness, her feet sliding forlornly on the carpet as she made her way upstairs.

I was glad Alice didn't ask me to do anything because all I really wanted to do right now would be curl up in a corner and cry or be with Edward, neither of which are possibilities. Instead, I plopped down on their cushy couch and put my head firmly between my legs to try to stop the room from spinning.

"Wosawie, whewe is Daddy?" A.J. asked her. I didn't look up, but I could tell he was searching the whole room for Jasper.

"Tonight's girl's night, so Daddy, Edward, and Emmett had to leave," she told him.

"I'm not a giwl!" he said indignantly.

She laughed, but there was no joy there. "Yes, but Mommy said that you should stay with us."

"I got it guys!" Alice cheered, coming up from the basement. I lifted my head to see her struggling to hold seven gargantuan bottles of wine.

"Holy sh-molie," Rosalie gasped. She would have sworn, but if anyone swears around A.J. Alice freaks out. I think it's because Emmett taught him the F-bomb when he was two. It took Alice and Jazz weeks to make him stop swearing.

"It was in this huge vault, so I'm guessing it's gotta be great!"

"And extremely expensive," I muttered under my breath.

Alice, somehow, heard me and turned to glare frostily at me. "If you're going to be such a downer, you might as well leave now."

I shrugged. "Okie dokie then. See you guys lay-tah!" I waved jauntily, or tried to anyway because I don't think it worked, as I made my way to the door.

"Oh, no you don't!" Alice screeched. Suddenly, I was smacked from behind and flew forward, crashing hard onto the wood floor. A glaring pixie held my arms pinned while a stony faced supermodel blocked the door. I'm glad the girl had enough common sense to put the bottles down before she hurled herself at me.

"Gosh, Alice, for being a midget, you weigh more like a sumo wrestler," I grumbled.

"What the heck are you playing at, trying to run away?" she questioned.

"You were the one who said I should leave if I was going to be a downer!" I retorted.

"I wasn't being serious!!!" she screeched.

"You can't expect me to be all jumping for joy at the idea of staying here when I could be with Edward! You guys had a whole night to yourselves when you found out, but instead I'm being forced to party with my friends and their kid!" I shouted, letting loose most of my pent up anger.

"You know what, Bella? Fine. Leave. Do whatever you want. Just remember we're going through the exact same shit you are right now, and we're not unleashing our frustration on the people who are trying to be helpful! So if you're just going to be cursing our name for the rest of the night, then I don't give a damn if you leave or not." I could tell Alice was 110% serious because she just swore twice in a minute. "Make up your mind, Bella. Rose, get out of the way in case that's her choice."

Reluctantly, Rose moved out of the way, and Alice crawled off of me. "Awe you weaving, Bewwa?" A.J. asked, his bottom lip sticking out and eyes filled with tears. "I fouwt you wood wanna spend da nigh wif me, Wosie, and Mama," he sniffled.

Damn. I can't believe they pulled the A.J. card. They know I can't resist my adorable godson! "That is way below the belt," I informed them.

Alice shrugged. "If it'll work, I honestly don't care."

"Since when have you been the bad cop?"

"Since I found out my husband's going to war."

There was an awkward silence for a moment before Rosalie said, "I think we all need a drink."

* * *

Five, or maybe six, large glasses of wine later, Rose, Alice and I sat hiccupping on the couch.

A.J., seeing us having a drink, insisted he have some too. Luckily, Alice was still sober then, so she winked at us and brought the kid some grape juice.

By now, we were all beginning to get tipsy, but we weren't quite drunk yet. Trust me, if you ever live in a sorority, you have to be good at drinking games or you will always go to bed stoned.

"Alice?" I hiccupped.

"Yeah?"

"When do they leave?" We hadn't talked about anything of importance yet; it was a silent agreement of ours to stay quiet until we were pretty out there.

"Well," she sat up, swaying a bit as she did. "They have to go to training in Florida or some other warmish state first." She paused, looking confused, and tried to collect her thoughts. "Then they gotta stay there for, mmm…. A year maybe, I dunno. Then they come home for a while an then, fwoosh, they are swooped off to wherever this stupid war is."

I looked over to see what A.J. was up to before I asked this question. Thankfully, he was already passed out on a recliner. I realized I had no idea what time it was, but that thought slipped away quickly. I could only focus on one thing at a time. "Is… is Jazz gonna go?"

Alice nodded, spilling a little wine on her shirt. "He said he wanted A.J. to grow up in America cause they say it's the land of the free. I dunno how it's free when they send their young men to war without a choice."

"Yea, we need a woman as president," Rose pitched in, speaking for the first time.

"What about Em?"

She shrugged. "He says we're gonna run away to Canada cause he doesn't wanna leave me, but I don't wanna live up there. I like being here with you guys," she sighed. "Plus, it's even colder up there!"

I tried to pat her shoulder, but I completely missed and bonked her on the head. "It's alright, Rose. Everything will be okay."

"What about E- Oh… never mind," Alice blurted. I was glad she hadn't finished that question, but I refilled my wineglass to the very top just to make sure it stayed off my mind for a while.

* * *

Two hours and farrrr too many wine glasses later, we were all beyond drunk. I couldn't see straight, and the one time I stood up to pee (you'd be surprised how quickly this stuff goes through yah) I nearly crashed into the door since I couldn't tell where it was.

When I was safely back in my seat, we began talking more. Alice reached for the wine bottle only to find it empty. "Weird. I coulda sworn we were drinking from this 'n," she slurred, reaching for another bottle. They were all empty.

"Sweet baby Jesus, we drank seven effin bottles of wine!" Rosalie groaned.

My head refused to stop spinning. "I think I need to sleep?" I said, the statement coming out as more of a question. They agreed, and we all tried to get up, each of us failing miserably. "I'm… I'm just gonna stay here," I mumbled, using Rose's shoulder as a pillow.

"Me… too," Alice yawned.

I looked at Rose, only to see her already conked out, a trail of drool trailing down her chin.

"You know what, Alice?"

"Wha?"

"Tonight actually wasn' too bad."

* * *

"Alright, knuckleheads. Rise and shine."

I groaned as a bright light was shined in my face, making my head nearly explode with pain. I could hear Rose swearing under her breath next to me, and Alice saying an assortment of her fake swears like, "Hello Kitty," and, "Furry Banana Tickle Bear."

I managed to crack my eyes open, only to see Esme standing over me, shining a flashlight in my face. "Ugh!" I groaned, reaching for my pillow, planning to throw it over my head. Then I realized my pillow was Rosalie's shoulder, so that plan kind of went down the toilet.

"Mary Alice Whitlock, where in the world did you get the idea that it would be okay to drink some of our priceless wine?" Esme cried.

"Uh… it was an emergency?" Alice tried.

"These are, no were, fine wines from various important moments in Carlisle's and my life!"

"Aw, banana biscuit, these were those wines that you always talk about???"

"Yes! They were locked in a vault, Alice!" She paused, pondering something. "How did you even get at them?"

Alice pursed her lips and nonchalantly scratched her ear. "Well, let's just say that crowbars tend to come in handy."

I would have laughed if I wasn't afraid I'd barf as soon as I opened my mouth. Trying really hard not to upchuck a bunch of purple colored, mushed up food, I asked, "Esme, do you happen to have any mac 'n cheese?"

Rosalie looked at me accusingly. "You stole my hangover food!"

I shrugged and the room spun wilder than before. "You're the one who I was normally with when I got drunk and when I had hangovers, and I discovered that mac 'n cheese can work wonders."

She opened her mouth to argue back, but Alice interrupted. "PEOPLE!" she winced. "Holy jizz that hurt. You're arguing over hangover food! Get a grip!"

"I suggest you stop yelling before you need to get a grip on crutches," I snapped back.

"Bu-rn," Rosalie said from behind me, snapping her fingers.

"Ladies!" Esme yelled calling us all back to attention. "None of you will take anything more from this house until you clean all the wine stains, put the bottles back in the cellar-"

"But they're empty!" Alice objected. She was quickly silenced by one of Esme's evil death glares.

"And fix whatever damage was done to this house last night, including the vault that you found the wine in. Then, you may all have mac n' cheese."

We all grumbled, and after the use of many a colorful word, managed to get into an upright position. "Wait a sec," Alice said, searching the room. "Where's A.J!?" she shrieked, worry filling her eyes.

"He went fishing with the rest of the boys," Esme said. "He said he'd had enough of the girls."

"We've been betrayed by a three-year-old," I muttered.

"You can discuss this while you're eating mac n' cheese, after you've cleaned," Esme said sternly.

We got to work, and before long, we were enjoying heaping bowls of steaming cheesy noodles. "You know what Alice?" I asked between mouthfuls.

"What?"

"We need to do stuff like this more often."

**Alright, I have to say I am terribly sorry for the delayed update. I broke my wrist and thumb in a very Bella like moment, so it's been very hard for me to type.**

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**Also, everyone is human in this story, and as for the time period it is present day.**

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	7. Chapter 7

**Recap:**

_We got to work, and before long, we were enjoying heaping bowls of steaming cheesy noodles. "You know what Alice?" I asked between mouthfuls._

"_What?"_

"_We need to do stuff like this more often."_

Chapter 7

The Last Night

Two weeks later, the night before the boys have to leave

I can't decide whether the past two weeks have been the best or worst of my life. They were amazing because every day was filled with some sort of outing that we all did together. When we were on these trips, I was outrageously happy, happier than I ever thought possible.

At the same time, whenever I had down time, crushing sadness overwhelmed me.

Sure these days were wonderful, but what about the ones in the near future, the future where Edward is out at war?

There will be days after war, a very small voice in my head says.

A louder voice says, These are your last days with him.

I couldn't do anything to stop these morbid thoughts, but I tried my hardest to keep them from Edward. This was already bad enough for him without being burdened by my sorrow.

Tonight, there will be no special outing; it's just a couple's night. Even A.J. won't be with his parents; he will be with Carlisle and Esme. After all, Jasper spent the whole day doing everything the little boy wanted.

Edward walked into our bedroom, saving me from these thoughts. **(A.N. - B&E share an apartment) **He grinned crookedly at me, and I tried to smile back. He saw through my miserable attempt at once and came to sit next to me on our bed.

Taking my face in his warm, smooth hands, he kissed my lips gently, lovingly. I sighed with longing, just wanting to be with him and forget these thoughts that plagued my mind. Pulling back so brown could meet green, he said, "Let's try to forget, just for tonight, please. I just want to be with you, and that's all that matters right here, right now."

I nodded, and stroked his cheek gently. He shivered from my touch. This made me smile; it astounded me the reaction I could get from this Greek Adonis. My mother insists I get it from her, but I'm not as sure.

He pecked me on the cheek, but before I could kiss him back, he jumped off the bed. "Come on, love. You didn't really think we were going to spend the whole night here, did you? I have the perfect idea of where to go, and I'm sure you'll approve."

I just sat there staring at him, wondering where this exuberance was coming from.

He held out his hand to me, and I grabbed it. He pulled me off the bed effortlessly, as if I was lighter than a sack of flour. "Now, can we go? I don't want to waste our time."

He was right, as always, and I let him lead me out to the car before my self-restraint broke. "Where are we going?" I asked as we pulled out of the parking lot.

Grinning that dazzlingly crooked smile at me, he said, "You'll see!" in that annoying, cryptic way of his.

I opened my mouth to argue, and then thought of what he'd just said, "I don't want to waste our time." I'm pretty sure arguing is under the time wasting category.

Instead, I changed the topic, kind of. "Well then, can we play twenty questions?"

Taking his eyes off the road, he looked at me with his eyebrows raised. "You always say you hate that game."

I waved my hand as if the topic was of no concern. "That was before, Edward. I was young and stupid then."

He laughed. "Yeah, yesterday when you were twenty-four, just like you are now!"

I shook my head sadly. "You'd think my own husband, at least, would realize that today I happened to turn twenty-four and three-quarters!"

"I didn't forget!" he said indignantly. "You'll get your present when we get home," he said, turning to look at me with a seductive smile on his face.

As soon as I saw him looking at me like that, I lost my train of thought. After spluttering for a minute, I managed to say, "So, come on, twenty questions!"

He rolled his bright eyes, smiling in a bemused sort of way. "All right, all right. Me first!"

"Nope! MY idea so I go first," I said with a smirk. "And, you have to answer every question honestly."

"Okay," he said, "but they're only yes or no questions remember?"

Damn. I'd forgotten about that. "Fine. So, I have been to this place before?"

"Sometimes."

"'Sometimes?' That is so not an answer! It's yes or no remember?"

"If you play on one of those little hand-held things you can say sometimes or maybe as well as yes and no. So really, it was a perfectly fine answer." He grinned cockily at me, and I scowled.

"I quit, I hate this game," I muttered.

At that, Edward cracked up, shaking so hard I was afraid he was going to swerve off the road.

When his fit subsided, he looked at me seriously. "Can you not lie to me?"

"I never –" I began angrily, but he cut me off.

"I don't want my memories of you to be lies. Can you just promise that you won't lie to me? Please, love?"

I refused to look at his face, knowing that as soon as I did, I would say yes to whatever he wanted. I could feel his gaze burning a hole in my side. My eyes flickered towards him, and in that one moment, I was won over. "I won't lie," I promised in a dreamy voice.

He smiled slightly, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Thank you," he said. Looking at me, he leaned forward until our lips met, just for a moment, before he pulled away. "Come on, Bella, we're here!"

He leapt gracefully out of the car, and before I could move, he opened the passenger door and helped me out into the cool, twilight air.

We were in a small parking lot surrounded by a huge forest. There were multiple paths leading into the dense forest, all labeled with a sort of sign like Locust Lane or Rabbit Road. "Uh, Edward, what are we doing here?"

"Do you trust me, Bella?"

"Yes, but –"

"Then follow me." He began walking off at a brisk pace to a path called Wildflower Way. Reluctantly, I followed, always remaining a step or two behind him.

Soon, we were completely surrounded by trees as the path wove steadily deeper into the forest. Edward slowed his pace a little and walked beside me now, holding my hand. The sky was darkening steadily from what I could see of it between the branches of the canopy above.

"Nearly there, love. The last bit is off the path though, I'm afraid," he said to me.

"Ah, I don't know how that's going to work out, Edward," I said nervously. I'm having a serious sense of déjà vu here… and then I realized why. "Wait a second; I thought your special place in the middle of the forest was in Alaska! How many cave dwellings do you have, Bigfoot?"

"How many shoes do you have?" he shot back. "It's basically the same thing. Wherever I go, I find somewhere alone. I, Jazz, and Em go camping all the time, and every time, I find somewhere special."

"That is so not the same! You're comparing a necessity, shoes, to some random obsession, weird forest homes!"

"Trust me, once you see this place, you won't wait to see all the others," he said stiffly. "Now, please, follow me, Bella. I don't want to spend all night out here."

"Fine. Lead the way, Sasquatch," I said, just as coolly.

We resumed the way we started, him a pace in front and me a pace behind. Not too long later, the trees began to thin, and light was shining through them.

"What the…" I trailed off as I walked into one of the most gorgeous meadows I've ever seen. It was almost a perfect circle of long, wavy grass with an occasional wildflower thrown in. Directly across from us, there was a cliff with water cascading gently down it. Planted strategically every few feet were tiki torches, giving it that strange glow I saw as we had approached. "Edward… it's beautiful!" I gasped my hands over my mouth. Tears filled my eyes, and I wiped them away hastily with the back of my hand.

"Hey, don't cry baby," he cooed, pulling me to his muscular chest.

"I… I… Can't you s-stay and sh-show me your other p-places?" I stuttered through my tears.

He laughed sadly. "Honey, you know that's not what I'm going to do. When I'm back, I'll show you all of them, I promise."

I sniffed, and before I could stop myself, words spewed out of my mouth. "But what if you don't come back? What if I'm stuck all alone with out you!? I can't, Edward, I c-c-can't!" I sobbed, burying my head in his chest, my sobs reaching something beyond hysterical.

"Why don't we sit down," he said gently. When I didn't move, he just scooped my legs up and sat us down on the ground, me on his lap. I was still crying, and instead of trying to make me stop, he just stroked my hair soothingly.

When I wasn't as hysterical, he spoke. "I know it'll be hard, not knowing, but –" his voice broke, and he took a deep breath before continuing. "But this is what I'm going to do. You'll stay here, and be safe, and I'll be fine."

"I-I could g-g-go with y-you!" I said madly, leaning back to look in his eyes. "Th-then I'd kn-know what was h-h-happening!"

He shook his head before I even finished. "No, Bella. You're staying here. I'll have the best training possible, and I'll always be quick on my feet." He held my face, wiping some of the tears away, even though more fell. "I couldn't stand you being hurt, love," he said softly, and with that, he pulled my face to his.

The kiss started off sweet and loving, but soon our desperation to be with each other was showing itself. His tongue grazed my bottom lip, and I opened my mouth to him without thinking twice. Our tongues battled, and we both moaned with pleasure. Still kissing, Edward leaned back so he was laying flat on the ground, me on top of him.

I tangled my fingers in his hair, holding him as close as I could. He had one hand on my lower back, the other on the back of my head. Suddenly, he flipped us so he was on top and I was on bottom. He pinned my arms down so I could no longer hold onto him. He was holding himself just above me, so I could feel him there, yet he wasn't smushing me, thank goodness! We were both panting and nearly out of breath.

"I love you," he managed to choke out. "So much."

I was about to answer when his lips crashed back down on mine, and soon every thought was wiped from my head.

We were starting to get pretty carried away, but somehow Edward managed to pull away. "Not here, not yet," he said. I scowled, and he grinned my absolute favorite crooked smile at me. "You must be hungry," he said pointedly.

"No." Stubborn, it's my middle name. But then my stomach, that traitor, growled and grumbled.

Edward looked at me with his eyebrows raised.

"So maybe I'm a teensy bit hungry," I allowed. _GROWWWWLLL! _"Or a lot," I said as Edward laughed. "Well where's this food then, mister? I don't have all night. There are other things that will need attending to."

He smirked. "You mean you didn't notice the picnic blanket and basket? How strange. You're normally the overly observant one."

"Oh, shut up," I replied, smacking him gently on the arm. He pretended to be hurt and rubbed his arm. "Someone kind of distracted me!"

"Who, me?" he gasped, putting on the innocent act. It was a little too thick, in my opinion. Growl. But this time it wasn't my stomach.

"What, you're hungry?" I teased.

"Just come over here so we can eat and get home."

"Whatever you say, Eddie," I said in a sing song voice.

He glared at me. I only said Eddie because I know how much he hates it. Aren't I nice?

"Ok, so what do we have?"

"Well, just normal picnic-y foods. Homemade sandwiches," he said pulling them out.

"Yeah, if you call Subway homemade," I giggled. He had left the wrappers on.

"Salad, Pringles, cole slaw, and…" with a dramatic flourish he pulled out a bottle. "Champaign!"

I gasped. "Where did you find that?" It was the same kind of Champaign that was served at our wedding, but it had been discontinued.

"It's a secret!"

"Tell me, pleaseeee!" I begged, batting my eyelashes.

He crumbled instantly. Score one for Bella! "Carlisle and Esme gave it to me. They said they had bought it for a special occasion, and I guess this was it." He shrugged like it was no big deal.

"Well pour me a glass and let's get eating!" I cheered.

We ate and talked, just being ourselves, for a long time. The bottle of Champaign was long gone already, even though we'd only opened it an hour ago.

All too soon, we were packing up and started hiking back through the forest. Edward offered to carry me, but I declined, saying that I'm perfectly independent. Barely five seconds later, I tripped and cut up both of my palms and got grass stains on the knees of my jeans. I let him carry me after that.

By the time we got to the car, the stars were shining brightly. "Ooh, look at the moon!" I gasped. I pointed upward so that Edward could find it easily. The moon was full, and it looked almost orange, for some reason. "It's beautiful!"

"Not as beautiful as you," Edward whispered sweetly in my ear. He's always such a charmer, but I don't mind it.

"Oh, stop it you're making me blush," I giggled waving my hand around aimlessly. Ok, so maybe I had a little too much Champaign.

He chuckled. "Let's get you in the car, crazy girl. I don't want you to be fatally injured tonight."

"Ha ha. You're sooo funny, Mr. Cullen."

"Well, you must find me entertaining since you married me, Mrs. Cullen," he shot back.

"You caught me at a weak moment."

"What did I do, kiss you?"

"Something like that, yeah."

We both began to laugh, so Edward used that as an opportunity to shove me in the front seat. I didn't care anymore, though. I just wanted to be with him.

Somehow on the way home, I fell asleep. Ugh. I mean, way to go Bella. Waste your last moments with your husband sleeping.

"Wake up, Sleeping Beauty. We're home," Edward whispered in my ear. He kissed my ear, then my lips. "Come on, Bella, there's other things to do tonight."

I groaned, then opened my eyes.

"Finally! The zombie awakes!"

"Can't you just help me up like a good husband?"

"No, I need to laugh at you first. Ha ha! Ok. Now, I'm done." He grabbed my hand and pulled me up into his arms.

We began to kiss, and started getting out of control, fast. We barely made it to our room before our clothes came off. I won't go into details, but it was wonderful.

Just before falling asleep, I said to him, "I love you, never forget that."

He laughed. "As if you'd let me!"

I smacked him on the chest. "Isn't there something you want to say back?"

"Nope!"

I hit him again.

"Ok, ok!" he laughed. "I love you, too."

We kissed for a moment, before he pulled away. "Forever and always."

**Sorry, sorry, sorry for not updating! I've just been crazy busy. Life just sometimes gets in the way. Hopefully I'll be updating every other week from now on. **

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**You guys all rock. I hope some of you have stuck with this story hahaha. Thanks for all those who keep on reviewing, and for those of you who don't, please do! Don't forget, I accept anonymous reviews too!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Recap:**

_Just before falling asleep, I said to him, "I love you, never forget that."_

_He laughed. "As if you'd let me!"_

_I smacked him on the chest. "Isn't there something you want to say back?"_

"_Nope!"_

_I hit him again._

"_Ok, ok!" he laughed. "I love you, too."_

_We kissed for a moment, before he pulled away. "Forever and always."_

Chapter 8

Saying Goodbye

When I woke up, Edward was already out of bed. I could hear him in the bathroom, taking a shower. Looking at the clock, I saw that it was 8:30, only two and a half hours until we needed to be at the airport. Edward and I were going to drive with Alice and Jasper, just so we could all be together.

The water shut off, and moments later, Edward stepped out with a towel wrapped around his waist. "Good morning, love," he said, giving me a gentle kiss. "What in the world am I supposed to wear?"

"Jeans and a tee shirt?" I guessed.

He shrugged. "Good enough for me." He rummaged through the wardrobe as I tried to hide my tears.

When he actually attempted to brush his hair, it was too much. "I have to… take a shower!" I gasped, sprinting toward the bathroom. As I slammed the door I heard him say, "Where's the fire?"

I turned the water on high, and stepped in, allowing the sobs to wrack my body. Hopefully, he couldn't hear them over the run of the water.

"Bella," he called. "I'm going to make some breakfast, do you want some?"

"S-sure," I managed to choke out.

Relax. RELAX. I told myself repeatedly. After maybe fifteen minutes, I stepped out of the shower, not feeling any better, but not any worse either. I threw on a pair of dark wash jeans and a purple zipper up hoodie with a white tank top under it. I knew Alice would throw a fit, but I could care less about that right now.

I went into the kitchen and saw Edward working furiously to keep his scrambled eggs from burning, but it didn't work out. I ran over and pulled them off the stove, just as they started smoking. Looking over at the toaster, I saw two pieces of burnt to a crisp toast poking out of the top.

"Maybe I should cook," I suggested. "I mean, I still have to live here, so setting the whole place on fire will not do."

He rolled his eyes. "Would it kill you to be nice to your husband every once in a while?"

"I am nice!" I giggled.

Edward glares at me, and I break

"Ok, ok 95% of the time, happy now?"

"Not until we get that number up to 99.9 percent. Get working!"

"I hate to crush your dreams, but they are wayyy too high."

"Fine, you make breakfast. I know you are very picky about your food not being burnt," he huffed.

"Most people are, Edward. You seem to be the only one immune to the disgusting charcoal flavor."

He shook his head in mock disappointment. "I wish I could do better, Bella, but this is how I learned. You know the saying- 'You can't teach an old dog new tricks.'"

"Yes, because you're sooo old Edward," I said sarcastically. "I was unaware that twenty-one was officially the age of the elderly."

He sighed and limped to the kitchen table. "Don't forget my bib, dearest, I wouldn't want to spill," he said in a falsetto voice.

I smacked him on the head with the dish towel. "I hope you like cereal, _dearest_, because we are running late."

His head whipped to the clock and he muttered, "Shit."

"Cheerios or Honey Nut Cheerios?"

"Cheerios, duh."

"Honey Nut for me, boring and ugly for you," I sang as I got it ready.

We munched on the tasty "O's" in silence, me doing the maze on the back of the Honey Nut Cheerios box and Edward reading the newspaper. We finished quickly, and as Edward ate a banana, I cleaned up all of the dishes and put them away.

"Aren't you going to have any fruit?" he asked me as we were walking out the door, hand in hand.

I rolled my eyes. "Does it look like I'm having any fruit Edward?"

"How unhealthy! And you didn't even eat the regular Cheerios."

"I'd prefer to call them bland and boring, if you don't mind."

"I do mind actually, I find them quite delicious."

"You were raised in a box," I said simply.

"Can you just grab a piece of fruit, please?" he begged. "Really, the whole healthy eating concept will keep you healthy. Get what I'm sayin?"

"Edward, we are seriously late. We are supposed to be at Alice and Jasper's in five minutes!" I whined. "I don't have time for fruit right now."

"You win this battle," he sighed as he locked the apartment door.

"Don't I always?" I giggled.

"Ha ha, you're sooo funny," he said sardonically.

We climbed into the car and sped to Alice and Jasper's house. We were going so fast, it was a miracle we didn't either crash into someone or get caught by the police.

We arrived at the Whitlock's only a couple minutes late, and Alice and Jazz walked out, Alice carrying a sound asleep A.J. and Jasper carrying his bags. Alice was wearing a pair of cut-off jeans with a U.S. Army graphic tee and a pair of black ballet flats. Jasper was simply in a pair of jeans and a red polo, and A.J. was in his footsie batman pajamas.

"Hey," I whispered as they got in.

"Hi," they whispered back. Alice quickly hooked up A.J.'s car seat and gently buckled him in on the right side. She sat in the middle, and Jasper sat next to her.

I opened my mouth to say something, but my throat was tight. Not wanting to waste my tears, I simply turned forward.

"Are you guys all settled in? We don't want to miss the train," Edward said softly.

"Yeah, go ahead," Jasper said. Alice was just staring at A.J.

We pulled out of their driveway and it was silent for a while, that is until A.J. woke up.

"Whewe awe we going, Mommy?" he asked bouncing curiously in his seat.

"We're going to the train station remember, baby?" Alice cooed softly.

"Ohhhhh," he nodded his head, his adorable curls flopping against his head. "I geddit nowww!" he giggled, tapping his head.

He continued chatting amiably, then suddenly yelled, "I gotta go peeeee!!!!!"

"What?" Alice gasp giggled.

"I godda go, I godda go, I godda goooo!" he wailed.

I began laughing hysterically at Alice shocked and frozen face.

Since Alice was out of commission, Jasper said, "Quick pull over!"

Edward, looking very befuddled, pulled into the nearest gas station. Jasper had unbuckled the screaming little boy and had him held under his arm like a football. Before the car was even at a standstill, he leapt out and raced to the bathroom. Alice ran after them, yelling for them to wait up.

I looked at Edward and grinned, and he smiled back. "Bet you're really looking forward for when we get to do that together huh?" he chuckled.

"You bet I am," I sighed longingly.

"We won't be gone long. And when we get back, you and I can start our own family, okay?"

"I know. I can't wait," I said. I gave him a quick kiss, and pulled away as Alice, Jasper, and A.J. came back to the car. A.J. had changed into a new shirt that said "some daddy's wear suits, mine wears boots!" and a pair of jeans.

"We just made it," Jasper panted. A.J. began sipping a juice box, and Alice snatched it away from him.

"Not until we get to the train station, young man."

He pouted but didn't complain. "Wait, awe we gowing on a baycashun?" he asked excitedly.

"Vacation?" Alice clarified. "No, A.J., just daddy's going on this vacation. Mommy and you are going to stay home."

"Is Bewwa going on baycashun?"

"No, Bella's staying too. Just daddy and Edward."

"So just me and giwls?" he said disgustedly.

"Hey, I thought you liked me!" I fake pouted.

"Giwls have cooties."

We all laughed, and A.J. joined in, even though his eyes showed he had no idea what in the world he was laughing about.

"Where did you get that?" Jasper asked.

"A boy at skewl towd me."

"Tsk, tsk. He's just mad because no girls at school will talk to him because they're all too busy talking to you, am I right?" Jasper asked.

A.J. thought for a minute, then a smile crept across his face. "Yea! You'we wite, Daddy! Fanks!"

"You're welcome sport," Jasper said, fondly ruffling his son's hair.

Just then we pulled into the train station.

"C'mon guys, we need to hurry, we're already late," Edward said. He stepped out of the car and grabbed his bags, then opened my door for me. Jasper grabbed his bags, and Alice grabbed A.J. and we walked as a group into the train station.

"Mommy, I'm a big boy, I can wawk," A.J. said.

"Fine, but you're holding my hand and if you don't I'm going to carry you like a baby."

"Ok!" he said cheerfully.

We got to the ticket booth and the man asked, "Who are you?"

"Edward Cullen and Jasper Whitlock, sir. We're going to Florida for training."

He nodded knowingly, and printed out two tickets. Edward and Jasper began rummaging for money, but he said, "Keep it. S'long as it goes toward keepin that kid alive." He nodded his head at A.J. who was trying to catch a glimpse of the ridiculously high ceiling.

"Thanks very much, sir," Jasper said.

"Now git, you're trains due to leave any minute."

"Fanks mistew!" A.J. called back at him as we hurried off.

"This is it. Train number nine," Edward said as we stopped. We were all suddenly silent, not knowing what to do next.

Alice, Jazz, and A.J. walked off a little, giving us a smidgeon more privacy.

"Keep yourself safe, won't you Bella?"

"Of course I will. You too, Edward. You need to come back." My voice cracked and I looked back up at the ceiling to keep from breaking down.

"We can video chat remember? I'll try to send you a request as soon as we get there, but I don't know how hectic we will be."

"Whenever you have time, I just wanna hear from you," I croaked.

He pulled my face toward his. "Don't worry about me, Bella. I'm getting the best training. Me and Jasper will both be fine."

"Just, please don't do anything risky, Edward. Please."

"I'll try."

With that, he smashed our lips together desperately, and I couldn't help but get caught up in the kiss. It was on the verge of violent the way we were holding onto each other, it was just that neither of us had the strength to let go.

The warning whistle for the train blew, and Edward pulled away. I kept my eyes closed, and he kissed my forehead before pulling me into a tight embrace. "I love you," he whispered in my ear.

"Love you too," I managed.

He let go of me and I gave Jasper a quick hug. Soon they were both walking away, their swollen duffel bags slung over their shoulders.

I stepped back by Alice and watched them board the train. When they got in their compartment, Edward blew me a kiss, and then the train was pulling away.

My chest felt as if someone from the first week of the Biggest Loser was sitting on it and breathing was hard. Tears began to fall down my face, and I turned and ran toward the car, trying to avoid tripping and other people.

"Bella! Bella, wait!" Alice was yelling. I could hear A.J. crying too, wanting his dad no doubt. I slowed, panting, and Alice crashed into me.

"Let's get to the car, Bella," she said, using her mom voice. "There's no use crying about it. For now, it's just gonna be you, me, and A.J."

**Thanks so much for anyone still reading this!**

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	9. Chapter 9

**Recap:**

"_Let's get to the car, Bella," she said, using her mom voice. "There's no use crying about it. For now, it's just gonna be you, me, and A.J."_

Chapter Nine

Starting Over

A.J. was fine as soon as we got to the car because there was some random toy in the backseat that he was extremely interested in. Don't ask me how it got there, I have no clue. I, on the other hand, was having a hard time holding myself together, but I didn't want to hear Alice's mom voice again. Frankly, it was extremely creepy.

I went to get in on the driver's side, but I was intercepted. "What do you think you're doing?" Alice asked, standing with her arms crossed in front of the car door.

A.J. was sticking his face up against the window and making pig faces at us. I snickered at his smushed face, but Alice must have misinterpreted my laugh.

"This isn't funny, Bella. There is no way in Helen that you are driving us home."

"Uhm last I checked this was my car," I told her, trying to sidestep the glaring pixie.

"Uhm last I checked you're not supposed to drive when you're drunk."

Ok… what? "Alice I haven't had anything to drink all day! What do you –"

"You are drunk on sadness," she said, nodding her head like it all made sense, even though it did not in any way.

Not wanting to get in an argument, maybe I was drunk on sadness, I handed over the keys. "Fine. Here you go. Now can you please take me home?"

"Get in the car I have an idea to pitch to you!" she said eagerly, happy from winning the non-fight. Just for the record, it doesn't really count since I didn't try.

"Oh-kayyy…" I said warily. Trust me, when Alice says she has an idea you normally want to go hide in a bomb shelter and brace for impact.

We settled in the car, and I took a peek back at A.J. Call me obsessed if you want, but I adore the little munchkin more than anything. If I had kids, I'd want them just like him, except maybe less hyper. Okay, definitely less hyper if I'm going to be honest. He wasn't hyper now, though. He was fast asleep, drooling all over his brand new T-shirt.

"Okay, so listen up and stop staring at my kid, Bella. There will be plenty of time to do that in the future, but I'm only going to say this once – I think you should move in with us."

"Alice!" I faux gasped, putting my hand over my heart. "I never knew you played for that team!"

"If I wasn't responsible for my son's life, I would turn and punch you right now, but unfortunately that is not an option while driving a car. Now listen please."

I made an exaggerated show of zipping up my lips and throwing away the key. I guess being drunk on sadness does make you kind of crazy. Here I am sassing a pixie. Not a good idea, my friends.

"We have an extra room, and since I work all day, I really need someone to watch A.J. and the price to have a nanny watch him would be beyond steep. Plus, they would end up making him a little devil instead of a little angel. So please say yes! Please, please, please, please, pleaseeee!"

"I dunno, Alice," I mumbled. "I mean, I'd be awfully dependent on you, and you know I don't like that."

"Really, Bella? Come on! It would save us both so much money! You could get a part time job at nights so that you could feel like you were paying your rent or whatever your problem is. Please, Bella! I really need your help, and A.J. really needs you since his daddy's gone."

That was so far below the belt it's not even funny. She knows that I'll do anything for A.J. so how could she say that!? I hate to admit it, but her idea does kind of make sense… "Well…" I said, pretending to still be pondering, even though my mind was set. "I guess that sounds good."

"Yay!" she cheered, swerving so violently I was afraid that we would roll off the road. "Thank you, thank you, Bella! You have no idea how much this means to me. When can you move in?"

"When do you want me?"

"Tomorrow?"

"Uh, I don't know if that's –"

"Tuh-rust me, it's possible. I know people, Bella, and don't you forget it!" We pulled into the apartment lot. "Great! So I'll call the dude in charge and I will see you at eight o'clock tomorrow. You better be ready!" She all but shoved me out the door.

"Hold up!" I yelled. "What about my car?"

"There is no way I'm leaving you here with this. You will run away, Bella, I know you. See you tomorrow, bright and early! Goodbye, goodbye!"

"Alice!" I yelled, but she was already gone.

Shaking my head at her craziness, and hoping that she would not call the contractor and call him "dude", I headed up to my apartment. I opened the door quickly, then bolted and locked it. Without Edward, I just didn't feel safe being here all alone. All lights on… check. Blinds closed… check. Door locked… triple check. I ran through all the important things in my head and finished up my list. I know it's only one o'clock in the afternoon, but the blinds must be closed. No I'm not a hermit, or a vampire, or whatever! I just like to feel safe.

Surprisingly, my stomach grumbled. With everything that's been going on, I hardly remember to eat, and my pants are definitely starting to feel a little baggier. I'm not anorexic either, thank you very much. I went to make myself a quick sandwich; since I'm drunk on sadness I don't want to do anything too extreme.

Somehow, I wasn't crying anymore. My body just seemed dry and empty of tears, almost like a hermit crab's shell. It reminded me of the time when I was little and my hamster was sick. We all knew he was going to die, and I cried like crazy until that day. But then once he passed on to that squeaky wheel in the sky, my crying stopped. I told my mom I was a bad person, and she said that sometimes anticipation is worse than the actual event. Words of wisdom from my mom. Don't expect them often because they were quite sparsely spread across my childhood.

After I finished my sandwich (a delicious roast beef and lettuce on wheat, just in case you cared), I went to start packing my stuff. What to bring, what to leave… it was just so hard to decide!

I finally figured out that furniture and stuff like that didn't matter since she was already living in a fully furnished house. So all of the sentimental stuff I bring with. We have pictures, clothes, anything that's memorabilia of my life with Edward. And necessities too, of course.

Dinner was as uneventful as lunch, Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup cup. I love those things. That way I could eat, and pack. All at the same time! Now you go ooh and ahh. GO! Wow. I am going crazy from lack of social interaction. Even if it's only been a few hours.

Exhausted, I made my way to the king size bed. It seemed way too big and lonely, though, and I couldn't fall asleep. Admitting defeat, I grabbed my comforter and crawled to the couch. Sure I'd be awkwardly curled up, but at least loneliness wouldn't be taking over my brain.

The Next Morning

8:00 a.m.

"BELLA!" I jolted awake, falling off the couch in my haste.

"I'm up, I'm up!" I mumbled to whomever was screaming at me.

"Get your lazy apple off of that couch and come to the door!"

Alice? Wait… she said she wasn't coming til eight! I had my alarm set and… oh. My alarm is in my room. Nice job, Bella. "Sorry, sorry!" I yelled, scrambling off the floor and racing to the door.

I opened the door a crack, and she shoved it open the rest of the way, bashing my nose against the hard wood. "OW, OW, OW, OWW!" I screeched.

"Mommyyy! You huwt Bewwa!" A.J. yelled. "She needs a bawnd aiwd!"

She rolled her eyes and handed me a transformers band-aid. "Thank you," I mumbled, putting the band-aid on my tender nose.

"Much bettew!" A.J. said, clapping his hands merrily.

"A.J. stay with Bella and make sure her nose is okay. I'm going to go get her stuff and put it in the car, alright?"

"Alwight!" he said, happy to have a job.

"You are packed, right?" she asked me. "Because if you're not we are leaving without your stuff. I have to be at work in an hour, so we need to move it."

"Yeah, it's all in my room."

"Good. Now practice watching the small child."

A.J. pouted at his mom, not liking being called a "small child".

"I mean the big boy," she said with a grin, ruffling his purposefully messy locks.

He smiled his approval and continued chattering away at me about some new toy that he found in the attic yesterday as Alice shuttled my bags to the car.

Finally, she was finished, and I scooped up A.J. (who now had a band-aid on his nose to match mine) and we walked off toward my car.

"So, I'm going to drop you, your stuff, and my kid off at our house and then I'll take my car and go off to work, okay?" Alice asked me as she drove.

"Okay, Alice. Thanks again."

"What are friends for?"

In no time, we were there, and I was standing in front of my new home with a toddler on my hip and my bags by my side.

As horrible as things were, I couldn't help but think that something was finally done right.

**Hey guys! **

**Thank you all so much for reviewing, it means so much. **

**Before I shout out to those people, I'd like to answer a couple of commonly asked questions so I would recommend you READ THE STUFF IN CAPS.**

**Okay, first question.**

**Q: IS EVERYONE HUMAN?**

**A: YES, EVERYONE IS HUMAN, NO VAMPIRES OR WEREWOLVES ARE IN THIS STORY.**

**And the second question.**

**Q: WHEN WILL BELLA FIND OUT SHE'S PREGNANT?**

**A: KEEP WITH ME GUYS, AND DON'T ASSUME WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW ;)**

**Now that that's over, **

**Thank you to…**

**LunarFairyPrincess1989**

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	10. Chapter 10

**Recap:**

_In no time, we were there, and I was standing in front of my new home with a toddler on my hip and my bags by my side. _

_As horrible as things were, I couldn't help but think that something was finally done right._

Chapter 10

News

2 weeks later

"Bewwa! Bewwa! Geddup! Mommy says we can gow to McDonawd's!" A.J. yelled as he bounced frenetically on my bed.

"No, A.J., I'm gonna stay home for this one," I muttered, flipping over and throwing my pillow over my head.

"NO! You haf to come! Pweeseeeeeeee," he begged.

"No, A.J. End of story. Now go away," I snapped.

I didn't mean to be so snappy, I mean, McDonald's, call me childish, is my favorite restaurant. I'd just been so tired lately, and there was nothing that I could do about it. Even with ten hours of deep sleep, I still woke up tired and crabby. What fun.

I heard a small sniffle. "Fine. I don't want you to be mwy nanny anymowe!" he shouted as he ran out of my room.

Great. I made a three-year-old cry. That's a wonderful way to start the day. I groaned and rolled out of bed, throwing on a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt over my pajamas. I decided not to mess with the knot on top of my head, so I just tossed it into a ponytail.

When I got downstairs, A.J. was drinking a cup of coffee. I didn't even flinch now, I was so used to this early morning routine. Really, his coffee was about 2% coffee, 97% milk, and 1% sugar. My coffee was 100% coffee, 100% of the time. He avoided eye contact, and Alice was too busy getting ready for work to notice him giving me the cold shoulder.

"Ok, Bella, we're leaving in ten, you and A.J. in your car and me in mine, alright?" she said.

"No, mommy, I wanna wide wiff you!" A.J. yelled, jumping up and nearly spilling his coffee in his excitement.

"Um… why?"

"Becas she wouwdn't gow to McDonawd's wiff us and she was being mean," he pouted.

"Bella? Mean?" she laughed. "A.J. c'mon, Bella can't even kill a fly, you know that!"

He giggled at the memory of me nearly crying about swatting a fly. Yeah, I'm too nice to hurt a fly, literally.

"Weww, I gwess I can wide wiff hew," he said. "But you owe me a appwe pie, mommy!"

"Sure, sure, kid. Now let's go! Chop chop!" she shouted as she ushered us toward the door.

We loaded into our cars, and once A.J. was situated with his Kidz Bop music playing, we were able to get on the road. Before I pulled out, I looked at the adorable house Alice, A.J. and I shared. It was a teeny two-story cottage painted a pale yellow on the outside so it could be our "personal sun" according to Alice. It was basically a townhouse on steroids, but I loved it.

We arrived at McDonald's just as A.J.'s favorite song came on. Fire Burning. They've changed the words so much it's like a totally different song, which is good since I have a three-year-old listening to it. So, of course, we had to wait in the car until the song was over and then we got to go inside.

As soon as we got through those doors, my stomach got remarkably queasy, very fast. "Bathroom," I managed to gasp before I sprinted toward the stalls. I flung open one of the doors and promptly upchucked into the nearest toilet. That's pleasant.

I staggered toward the sink and rinsed my mouth out, wondering what make me hurl like that. The last time I was sick was when I got the 24 hour flu and that was not good at all. I hope I didn't get it again!

As I walked out of the bathroom, I realized what did me in – it was the smell of all of the disgusting food! I must have gotten a personality transplant because normally McDonald's grease equals love for me.

I spotted Alice and A.J. sitting by the window, Alice with a fruit parfait and A.J. with a ten piece chicken mcnuggets. I have no idea how, but that kid can shovel down all ten nuggets in record time! People observing probably think he doesn't get fed at home, which is not the case at all.

I plopped down in my spot and picked at the chicken select Alice had been kind enough to get me. I didn't want to eat it one bit. Just smelling it made me want to barf… again. I waited impatiently, though, not wanting to make A.J. cry for the second time in one day. When he finally finished (with a quite impressive burp, might I add), I was out the door and in the car before you could say alacazam.

I quickly buckled in A.J. and went to make a speedy getaway, but Alice grabbed my arm and pulled me aside. "What is up with you, Bella?" she asked, sounding nothing but concerned.

"What do you mean, Alice?" I asked, widening my eyes innocently. It obviously didn't work on her.

"I mean, you sprint off to the bathroom, don't want to eat your chicken selects, and you are always tired! Is everything okay?"

"I have no idea, Alice. I'm sure I just have a little funk or something, it's no biggie."

"We'll see about that," she said as she stalked off to her car.

What the hell is that supposed to mean? I pondered this as we drove home, not wanting to listen to A.J.'s, dare I say, lame music. As we got into the house, he was talking about some pirate war he wanted to have with me, but I managed to convince him that watching UP would be a lot more fun.

I was right, of course. We both donned our 3-D glasses that made us look like the old man and laughed at Doug and Kevin. Halfway through the movie, I started feeling queasy again, and ran off to the bathroom to hurl again. When I got back, I don't think A.J. even noticed I was gone. He was just chanting, "Squirrel, squirrel, squirrel!" whatever that means.

I ran to the bathroom for the second time, and as soon as I walked out, wiping my mouth, Alice came in. She was watching me suspiciously, and I tried to smile, but I really just grimaced.

"Hey, Alice. You're home early," I said awkwardly.

"Yeah, they didn't need as many people in today so I got sent home," she said with a scowl. "What are you two up to?"

I shrugged. "Just watching UP. It's not that bad – you'd probably like it."

"Mmhmm. How's your stomach been holding up?" she asked.

Damn. I forgot how much Alice could just figure out. I knew she already knew I'd been throwing up, so there was no point in lying. "Oh, well you know it's been worse," I said.

She glared at me. "Don't lie, Bella. How many times have you barfed today?"

"Uh three?"

"Have you eaten anything?"

"Does water count?"

"No."

"Then no."

She watched me, and suddenly her eyes grew wide. "I think I may know your problem, Bella. Stay," she commanded as she ran upstairs.

I looked over at A.J., making sure he was where I left him. He was, and he was still chanting, "Squirrel."

Alice materialized in front of me holding a little box. "Take it," she sand in the same commander voice. I read the print and shoved the box back at her.

"No way, Alice, I'm not pregnant!"

"Bella, stop being difficult! I think I'd know since I already had a kid of my own."

"Well, I'm not the same as you, Alice. No. End of discussion." In my peripheral vision, I saw A.J. turn away from the movie to watch us bicker.

"It's not like it's a big deal if it's a negative! It's better to know sooner," Alice said. "Now go!"

She thrust the box into my hands and shoved me back at the bathroom. "JERK!" I yelled as she slammed the door. I could hear her musical laughter through the wood.

Whatever. I'll just take the test to prove Alice wrong. The little pessimistic voice (I really hate her) was saying well what if Alice is right?

Well then screw her.

I waited impatiently for the results, really wanting to see the answer, but at the same time I was too worried. I paced the bathroom like a caged lion, occasionally leaning over to check the test.

Finally, something changed. I ran over and looked at it, and I screamed.

A little, pink plus sign was staring up at me.

**Sorry I'm so horrible at updating! My computer refused to work which put me wayy behind schedule. If anyone is still reading, please review! I love all of your feedback. Plus you get a shout-out. Cool, right?**

**Thanks soo much to**

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**You guys rock!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Recap:**

_A little, pink plus sign was staring up at me._

Chapter 11

How Much More Can I Take?

Alice was at the door in no time. She looked at the sign and paled. "I don't even want to say I told you so," she whispered in a strained voice.

"Alice, I can't do this. I can't, I can't. Not without Edward! I-I-I…" I broke into sobs, not even able to finish my thought. I know I said I wanted a baby, but that was when Edward would be there to help. He would be there to be their daddy. He would be there to play sports with them and do all the rough-and-tumble stuff I was no good at.

I couldn't do it without him.

"Bella, shh, you're fine, shh, sweetie," Alice cooed, cradling me in her arms. "We can get through this without a hitch, I promise."

"I'm not going to do this without him, Alice."

She caught the hard tone of my voice, and pulled away from me. "You don't mean…"

"Yeah, I do, Alice. I won't do this without Edward. We hardly have enough money here as it is! And adding an extra little mouth…" I shook my head. "No, Alice."

Her eyes hardened. "What, so you're going to kill some innocent little baby just because Edward isn't here to hold your hand through the whole thing? Well guess what? That's his baby too, and I will not let you make this decision without telling him. It's not fair, Bella."

"Life's not fair, Alice," I muttered bitterly. "Never has been, never will be."

"Fine, you want to get rid of the kid? You're outta here!" she shouted, jumping up. "This is just plain ridiculous, Bella!"

More tears welled over. "But… Alice! I couldn't support myself on my own," I said brokenly.

Seeing that she had hurt me more, she said softly, "I don't want you to, Bella, but you have to see, this baby is supposed to happen." She reached down and gently patted my head. "Let's at least go to the doctor, okay? Maybe you're not even pregnant." There was no hope in her voice.

"Maybe…"

"I'll set up the appointment. I'll even come with, if you want."

"Sure. Thanks, Alice."

"No problem. Now go get back to that movie."

I went back in the living room with A.J. who was, luckily, too absorbed in the movie to notice the tears streaming continuously down my cheeks. I wasn't ready to do this at all. Not without Edward, and definitely not on my own. The fact that there might not even be a baby was like a life-vest holding me above water. Maybe… but I knew there was. I could feel it in my gut.

The movie ended, and I was able to stop the tears long enough to cook up some dinner with A.J. He loves cooking mac 'n cheese, and he's not that bad at it anymore! Tonight we had the ones that were Spongebob shaped (his favorite). He dumped some ketchup over the top and dug in. I have no idea how ketchup and cheesy noodles is a good combo, but it keeps him happy, so whatever.

Alice came back into the kitchen then. "Next week," she said softly. "Tuesday. I got part of the day off, and the doctor said it'd be fine if A.J. came with."

He looked up, worried. "Dotow?" he gasped. "Dows vat meawn vat I haff tow geyt a showt?"

"Get a shot?" Alice clarified.

"Not you," I mumbled under my breath.

Alice glared at me, and answered A.J.'s question. "Nope, this doctor visit is for Bella."

"Ohhh." He visibly relaxed and continued munching on his dinner.

Alice grabbed a small bowl and sat down with us. We ate in silence, and eventually, the tension was too much. I ran upstairs to my room, threw myself onto the bed, and cried myself to sleep.

**Tuesday**

As I got up, I dressed numbly. Today was the day we would finally find out whether or not there was a baby inside of me. I stand convinced that there is, and so is Alice, but the visit to the doctor is necessary if or if not there is a baby in there.

I got downstairs and made three bowls of dinosaur oatmeal. Alice and I always eat what A.J. does. I don't really know why, but that little kid stuff isn't half bad.

Alice came downstairs, fully dressed, carrying a half-sleeping A.J. who was still in his pajamas. They were the very cool Batman ones I had gotten him for Christmas last year. I bought them a couple sizes too big, so I'm glad he could finally wear them.

"Morning, Bella!" Alice said cheerfully, grabbing her bowl of oatmeal.

"Morning," I said back unenthusiastically.

A.J., sitting slouched low in his seat, mumbled a hard to hear, "Mownin'"

"Okay, Bella, we have to leave in ten minutes. Is that what you're wearing?" she asked, speculating my jeans and sweatshirt.

"If A.J. is wearing pajamas, I think I'm entitled to wear this," I said grumpily, gesturing at my sloppy outfit. On top of all the things I had to deal with, I did not want to deal with Alice's annoying Stacie London impersonation.

"But he's a little boy, Bella," she whined.

"I'm letting you take me to the doctor, aren't I?" I snapped. That shut her up.

Soon we were in the car and whipping down the rain slicked roads. I could hear A.J. snoring softly in the backseat, but that was it. Alice and I were silent, not having anything to say.

We got to the doctor's office, and if it weren't for Alice holding my arm, I would have sprinted away from there as fast as I could. A.J. was awake now and babbling something incoherent in Alice's ear.

I went up to the receptionist and said, "Hi, I'm Isabella Swan. I'm here for an appointment."

"Of course dear, let me look you up." She was so sweet and kind; she reminded me of Esme. We need to visit her and Carlisle soon. "Isabella M. Swan for nine o'clock?" she asked me.

"Uh, yes."

"Okay, the doctor will be out in a minute sweetie."

I nodded awkwardly and sat back down. Looking around, I saw one lady whos stomach looked like it would burst, one lady crying softly, and another lady clutching the arm rests of her chair and looking impassively at the door.

Her face frightened me for some reason, and I looked away quickly for fear of her catching me peeking at her.

We were in the waiting room for quite a while when they called, "Isabella Swan?"

I got up without thinking and shuffled forward, not checking to see if Alice and A.J. were following me. "First room on the left," the woman said to me kindly. She had long, wavy red hair that I immediately knew was fake. The smile on her face, however, was genuine.

"Alright, Isabella. Just sit down right here, and we can have a chat." She gestured to a chair, and I gingerly sat down. "Alice! Aaron! How good to see you both!" Oh no. It was doctor happy. Alice had her when she was pregnant with A.J. and whenever I went, I hated the woman.

"It's A. Jayyyyyy," he grumbled. He obviously wasn't too fond of her either.

"Sorry, hon," she said with a soprano giggle.

"While we are doing the name game, I prefer to go by Bella," I told her.

"Okay! Anything I should know about you, Alice?"

"Nothing in particular," she said with a serene smile.

"Well then let's talk about you, Bella." She began to promptly drill me with questions about my health. Are you allergic to anything? Have you ever had this disease? Yaddah, yaddah, yaddah. She also asked stuff like, when was the baby conceived? Have you been to a doctor yet? What kind of symptoms have you had so far? When did you notice these symptoms? Et cetera, et cetera.

Now that we were here, I wondered why I didn't think to set up an appointment with Carlisle! I mean, he's a doctor, and my father-in-law. Oh wait, that would be awkward. But anything was better than this lady.

"Okay now that we got all of that out of the way, let's have us an ultrasound and see if anything's there, shall we?"

I leaned backward in the chair and felt her smooth some cold blue gel on my stomach. I shivered. What did they do with that stuff, keep it in a freezer?

A little picture appeared on the screen. It looked like a bunch of mumbo jumbo to me, but Alice and Dr. Happy gasped. "Well, my dear, it appears you are pregnant with twins!"

That's the last thing I remembered before I blacked out.

I woke up, dazed and disoriented. How did I get here? And where was here? I looked around and saw that I was in my room. That's strange. I don't remember coming home. Oh. Right. I passed out. Because I'm having TWINS!

Because one baby wouldn't have been hard enough, oh no. I had to have two of them. I sighed and laid back in my pillows. It wasn't like there was anything I could do about it now. I couldn't… do what I was going to now that I knew there were two little lives in there. I don't know why, but it somehow changed my mind.

I looked at the clock. It was five in the morning. Holy crap! I was out for basically the whole day!

Too lazy to get up, I laid still and ran through baby names. Then I realized that I needed to tell Edward. That could be interesting. I got up and walked over to my laptop. Edward and I have been communicating through video-chat since he's been gone.

I booted up the computer and waited impatiently for it to be up and running. I finally clicked on the little web-cam window and clicked on the picture of Edward. Now I was looking at his room. Oddly, everything was perfectly in order. Last time I'd checked in, he and Jasper had made a complete mess of the room.

"Hello?" I said nervously.

A man walked by in a towel. "Edward? Jasper?"

Whoever it was stopped, and came toward the computer. Jazz's confused face was soon in view. "Oh, hey, Bells! You looking for Edward?" he asked as he jumped up to find a shirt.

"Er… yeah," I said awkwardly. "Do you, erm, know where about he is?"

"Oh, um, he was just going to get us some breakfast… He'll be here in a sec. Is Alice there?" he asked hopefully.

"Sorry, it's only five here."'

"Oh yeah. Right. Well tell her and A.J. hello for me, will yah? Tell them I love them too?"

"Not that I don't want to, but why can't you?"

He stood there for a fraction of a second. "I'm gonna go get dressed. Edward should be here soon."

Well that was weird. I watched him disappear and waited impatiently for Edward's glorious face to show up on the screen. It didn't take long.

"Jasper! The food is warm today, buddy. Get out here before I eat it all!"

"Edward!"

His head swiveled to and fro, looking for where my voice came from.

"The computer?"

"Bella!" he said joyously, jumping across the room and landing in the chair. "How are you, love? I was just about to webcam you!"

My eyes ravaged his face. It looked the same, except for the crew cut he now had. That's upsetting. I loved his messy, bronze hair. His green eyes glittered at me and caused me to swoon. He looked more built and muscular than before, almost like Emmett. Everything else was the same. His beautiful crooked smile, his full lips, everything.

"Really? Why?"

"Well, why are you video chatting me at five in the morning? You should be asleep!" he chided.

"Sorry," I said reflexively. "Why don't you go first? I want to hear what's up."

He hesitated. "Bella, Jasper and I are being deployed today."

I felt like I had just been punched in the stomach by a prize boxer. "You're… what?" I asked in a small voice.

"We're getting sent off. They need more troops and… well me and Jasper are just too good at what we do, I guess," he grinned morosely at me.

"But… can't you just wait until a couple more weeks? You were supposed to be coming back in just a few days," I said, trying to keep my voice level.

"That's what I said. Apparently, we need the troops there now. There's no time to waste."

"Were you even going to tell me?" I asked softly.

"What? Of course I was, Bella, you can't think that I wouldn't tell you!" he looked genuinely offended that I had thought that.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"We just found out yesterday, Bella, honest. We've been so busy packing and going through last minute drills, we barely had time to sleep last night!"

I could tell. There were dark, deep circles under his eyes, but they didn't mar his beautiful face. "But it doesn't sound like Jazz is going to say goodbye to Alice. What's he doing, leaving the dirty work for me?" I asked without humor.

His jaw tightened. "That is his business. I've tried to convince him, but you know how stubborn he can be."

"I'm getting Alice. Right now. You make sure he comes to the computer. Understand?"

"Bella, wait! Before we have an audience, I wanted to say that I love you more than my life and I will miss you everyday that I am away from you," his eyes were smoldering with extremely intense emotion.

"I… I love you too, Edward. And I've been missing you, trust me." A couple of traitor tears escaped and rolled down my cheeks.

He looked pained. "I love you."

"Not nearly as much as I love you."

I ran out of my room and into Alice's, shaking her. I wanted to make my escape before the real water works had time to start. "Alice get up!" I hissed. Her hand flew out lightning fast and slapped me across the face. "OWCH, GOD DAMMIT, ALICE!" I shouted.

She sat up and stared at me. "What the hell are you doing in my room at 5:30 in the morning?" she questioned.

"Why the hell did you slap me?" I shot back. "Just come with me." I grabbed her wrist and yanked her out of bed into my room. Jasper was arguing with Edward when we walked in.

"Ech hem!" I said loudly. They both turned and looked at the screen. Edward looked relieved, and Jasper looked nervous. I discreetly shuffled out of the room, mouthing "I love you," to Edward one last time.

As soon as I made it out, the tears overflowed more intensely. I ran to the bathroom and locked myself in. Quickly, I turned on the shower so no one could hear my hysterical sobs.

**I felt bad about not updating, so here's another longer chapter!**

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	12. Chapter 12

Recap:

As soon as I made it out, the tears overflowed more intensely. I ran to the bathroom and locked myself in. Quickly, I turned on the shower so no one could hear my hysterical sobs.

Chapter 12

Getting Down to Business

Once I got a handle on my tears, it didn't take as long as I suspected, I got out of the bathroom and went to find Alice.

I found her in my room, just as she was saying goodbye to Jasper. I could tell she was about to break, but she was waiting for him to go so he'd remember her smiling. I didn't know if this was true, but that's how I felt with Edward and I figured the feeling was pretty mutual.

As the screen went black she sniffled. She turned to me, not yet crying. "Well, this sucks!" she exclaimed, and she promptly burst into tears. Collapsing on my bed face-down, she continued to sob.

I went and cautiously sat down next to her, rubbing her back and trying to calm her hysterics. I felt like I should be crying with her, but I was just dry. It was weird how when they were just being deployed to boot camp, I flipped out while Alice was cool as a cucumber. Now, the roles were reversed.

"Why didn't you cry at first?" I asked curiously. "When they first got deployed, I mean."

"It wasn't a death sentence then," she said, her voice muffled from my now tear stained comforter. "And I did cry, just not when anyone was around to see." She lifted her head, and smile-grimaced at me.

I pulled her in for a hug, and then stood up, offering her my hand. "C'mon. Let's go get you calmed down before A.J. is up. We have…" I looked at the clock. It was only six! It seemed the day had been much longer already. "An hour. Think you'll be okay by then?"=

"I think I can manage, but only if we find some Gilmore Girls."

I rolled my eyes and agreed. Alice and I had a sort of obsession with Gilmore Girls. Alice because she could somewhat relate to Lorelai. I like it because I just find it hilarious. So, we have the first few seasons, and we basically know them by heart. Unfortunately, it's not exactly appropriate for three year olds, so we are doomed to only watch it late at night or early in the morning. Anyway, now that I'm done with my little rant we can get back to reality.

I set up the DVD and made Alice a cup of black coffee and got her a container of Ben and Jerry's. You never know when you'll need an ice cream fix, so we keep some handy. With baby number one and two inside of me, I am going to try to eat healthy… try being the key word. Is coffee bad for babies? Ah, what the hell, one glass won't kill them… I hope. Okay, so a no-no to the coffee, but then how am I supposed to get through the day?

"Bella, are you going to come watch or not?" Alice asked impatiently. "We barely have enough time for one episode, and I do not want to miss the end."

"You can start without me," I offered as I searched the cabinets for something healthy to eat. Apples are healthy, right? What's that weird saying… an apple a day keeps the doctor away? Alright, apple it is, I guess! I rinsed it off and sat down next to Alice. I then spent the rest of that torturous hour glaring at her delicious smelling coffee and nibbling sullenly at my apple. Gee, what a great way to start the day! My husband's being deployed and I can't even eat good food because of the babies…

"Crap!" I exclaimed.

"What?" Alice asked automatically, still staring at the screen.

I grabbed her shoulders and made her face me. "I didn't tell Edward about the twins!"

She spit out the coffee she was drinking. What a fabulous, carpet staining spit-take. "You're kidding me… you have to be kidding me!" she shrieked. "Well what are you doing? Get your lazy bum up there and try to video chat him! Quick, Bella! Forget you're a klutz."

I did just that. I sprinted upstairs and waited a painfully long time for our computer to boot up. I clicked on the chat window and… nothing. My heart twisted in my chest and I slammed my fist onto the desk. I knew he was gone because we promised to always keep the chat on in case one of us needed the other. Now I needed him but he was far gone.

I could feel myself shaking from the effort of holding in the sobs that clutched my chest. I couldn't cry. I already heard A.J.'s feet pattering across the floor. We needed to tell him. He probably wouldn't understand, but he needed to know. When is the best time to tell a person bad news? I didn't know. All I could think of was that line from Baby Mama. Yesterday. But that's a lie. Yesterday we didn't even know. We were miserable, but not nearly as heartbroken as we are now.

I took a deep breath and then stumbled down the stairs. A.J. was sitting with Alice on the couch, looking confused. "Mommy," he said. "Why awe you sow sad?" He patted her cheek to try and comfort her.

I saw her eyes flash to me, but I shook my head. She needed to tell him this, not me. I went in the kitchen and began to cook up our oatmeal.

"Baby, me and Bella are sad because Daddy and Edward had to go far away."

"Awen't they awlweady?"

"Yes, but now they are all the way across the ocean."

"Why?" he asked. I knew the toddler's favorite question would show up at some point.

"Because they are in the army. They are going to be gone a very long time."

"But… Dey was sposed to come howme on satuwday." I could practically see his eyes filling with tears, and I nearly spilled the milk I was shaking so bad.

"I know, honey, but they had to go or else we couldn't live here anymore." Just like Emmett and Rosalie, off somewhere in Canada. I wondered if they had picked the better offer, but I really couldn't decide.

"I down't cawe! I want Daddy bawk. I miss him! I wanned to show him my awpwane that I mayde! It's nawt faiw!" he screamed, breaking into sobs.

My eyes filled with tears as I heard how depressed he was. A.J. almost never cried, and to hear him sob like that was shocking. I knew he was banking on getting to see them just as much as Alice and I were.

I pulled the oatmeal out of the microwave and set it off to the side. No one would eat it yet. I went into the family room and picked up A.J. and set him on my lap. Alice got up, looking extremely pained, and walked out, knowing I was going to try to work my magic.

A.J. continued to cry, and after a while I spoke. "Buddy, look at me." He shook his head, wiping snot all over my shirt, I'm sure. "Aaron. Look at me." His blue eyes flicked up, and went down just as quickly. "Last chance." I said. Yeah, I know, it sounded really threatening, but I didn't really have anything planned if he didn't look up. Thankfully, he did.

"Waht?" he snapped, meeting my eyes.

"Your Daddy is being very brave by staying away. Do you think he wants to go away from you and Mommy? He doesn't. He is trying to make it so that you will have a better life here. So why don't you try to be brave like him, okay? You are making Mommy sad when you cry like this. You are always so brave. So how about this: If you ever need to cry, or talk, come talk to me. I'll listen. You can do this. You are strong."

He sniffled and wiped his nose on the sleeve of his dinosaur pajamas. "Okay, Bewwa," he whispered. "But I'm scawed that Daddy won't evew come bawk." His big blue eyes looked up at me. "He wiww comw bawk, won't he, Bewwa?"

I paused. This was a crucial moment. If I told him the truth, he would be crushed. But lying to him about something so major in life was beyond wrong. I knew what Alice would do. She would lie. She would tell him that he would be home in no time, even if that may be impossible. But that wasn't me.

"We don't know, sweetie," I murmured, pulling him close to me. I kissed the top of his head, and carried him to the kitchen to eat breakfast.

Breakfast, like most days, was a quiet affair, but today it was for a different reason. As soon as A.J. was done, he ran upstairs and shut his bedroom door. Alice and I haven't had the courage to go up and talk to him some more, and we thought some alone time might do him some good anyway.

It wasn't long before Alice went upstairs to have a private sob, and I was left alone. Not knowing what to do, I just started randomly cleaning everything. I made it to the bathroom when I heard my name being called. "In here, A.J.!" I called.

I could hear his feet pounding on the floor. He came into view with his Daddy's Little Soldier shirt and a pair of jeans on, carrying the Kodak disposable camera that Alice and I had gotten him for his birthday. "Bewwa, wiww you take a picsha owf me an my awpwane?" He pulled the little toy airplane that he had painted out of his pocket.

"Sure, buddy. I'd love to take a picture of you." It seemed like an odd request, but I just decided to go along with it. At least he wasn't crying. "Alright, you need to smile. One… two… three!" I snapped the shot, and it was a cute one, I knew. He was holding the airplane by his face with a giant grin emphasizing his dimples.

"Can we gow ged it devewoped? Pweese!" he begged. "It was da lawst won on da camwa."

I checked the little number thing, and saw that he was telling the truth. "Okay. Let me just go tell Mommy where we – "

"NO! Down't teww hew! It can be aw wittwe secwet." He held a finger to his lips with an adorable grin.

"Alright. Just let me get my Converse." I would end up telling Alice, just because that's the kind of double dealing I do. No, that's not it, I just think she should know these things. Especially if A.J. told me not to tell her, I mean, that just sets off red lights!

"Mine tooh! Mine tooh!" A.J. crowed.

I laced up my black hi-tops and A.J.'s camouflage hi-tops, and we were on our way. A.J. didn't want to sing along to his music today, so I gladly turned it off. I did not want to hear one more prepubescent boy singing Boom Boom Pow again.

Soon, his pictures were developed, and as I predicted, the one of A.J. with his airplane was beyond adorable. "Qwik, Bewwa! We godda ged howme!"

"Jeez, slow down, A.J. We'll get there when we get there."

"But we need to get thewe NOW!"

I stopped the car and turned to look at him. "Ex-ca-USE-me?" I snapped.

He flushed. "I juwst… um…. Sowwy bewwa," he stammered, clearly at a loss for words. It didn't happen often, I assure you.

"That's what I thought," I sniffed, and started to drive off.

When we got back to the house, A.J. flew off with his pictures and slammed shut his bedroom door. "Don't slam, Aaron!" I yelled after him. Money was tight as is, and we really couldn't deal with replacing a door. If he broke it, he'd be stuck without one.

All of the sudden, I felt a tugging in my stomach. I sprinted to the bathroom and hurled. Ugh. I forgot all about the morning sickness until just now. Alice was lucky enough when she had A.J. not to get morning sickness at all. Beyond jealous, I went and rinsed out my mouth.

As I walked out of the bathroom, A.J. came barreling down the stairs carrying a package. "Wook waht I madwe fow Daddy, Bewwa!" he called, racing over and depositing the package on my lap.

I looked and there was the picture of A.J. clumsily glued to a piece of green construction paper. It said, "2 Dadi (picture of a heart) A.J."

"I couwdn't figuwe owt how to speww some of the wowds, sow I just had to twy an make it sow he couwd undewstand. Do you fink he'ww geddit?" he babbled.

"I'm sure he will sweetie," I said automatically. I then noticed the small box stuck on top. Opening it up, I saw that it was the little toy airplane. My throat tightened at the sweetness of it all.

"I wanned to wite him a wettew saying how I wanned him to have it, but I didn't know how to speww the wowds," he said sadly.

"How about I help you," I said. "You can practice your letters that way."

He smiled brightly. "Okay! Can we make thewe be lotsa Q's? I need pwactice on my Q's!" he babbled cheerily.

I laughed. "I'm not sure how many Q's would fit in a letter to your Daddy, but we can see!"

Once we were done, the letter read, "Dear Daddy, here's the airplane that I made. I wanted you to have it so that you know I'm always flying with you. Love, A.J." Yes, he came up with that all by himself. I just told him how to spell everything! Who knew he was such a sap. Well, he was sappy enough to make me cry.

I decided to write Edward a letter. It seemed like a good idea, and I needed to find some way to break it to him. It took a long time, but I finally figured out what I wanted to write. "Dear Edward, I hope everything is going well wherever you are. There is something important I need to tell you, so don't read this unless you have time to be unfocused. I'm pregnant. With twins. I know, it seems ridiculous, but it's one hundred percent true. Anyway, I really miss you and love you. Stay safe. Love, Bella."

Straight, to the point, and not too sappy. Sometimes, I surprise myself. Alice wrote a letter too, and we all went to the post office to see our mail off. As the mail truck drove around the corner, I just hoped that it would make it to them, before it was too late.

**Alright guys, I am so sorry this chapter took forever! It was a combination of things, from writers block to internet being down for far too long. I'm sorry if I didn't respond to your review because e-mails have not been working either. So I figured I would just get this chapter out there and then see where we go from here. This one is just a filler, next chapter things will be getting more intense.**

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	13. Chapter 13

**Recap:**

_As the mail truck drove around the corner, I just hoped that it would make it to them, before it was too late._

Chapter 13

The Letter

EPOV

"Hey, Cullen!" I heard someone call. I looked up from the gun that I was polishing. James was trotting over with the mail bag held over his head. We were finally getting a little bit of down time at the base, and we all needed it. The past week (or has it been longer? I don't know) we have been running patrols and just doing typical army stuff non-stop.

"What is it, James?" I asked him, trying to keep all irritation out of my voice. James is an okay guy, but I only tolerate him because he would make my life hell in a minute if I acted out against him.

"Don't sound so excited, kid. You have a letter!" he crowed, proudly presenting the envelope to me. "Something must have happened, though, because part of it is missing. Sorry. Do you know where your blond counterpart is? 'Cause he got one too."

I grabbed the enveloped numbly, and shook my head at James before he got upset since I didn't answer a direct question. Looking down, I saw my name scrawled in my Bella's handwriting. She was obviously in a hurry because the writing was nearly unintelligible. Only many years of practice have allowed me to read it. I was angry though. Only God knew what she had written in the missing part. I scowled, but didn't want to let some no good person's prank ruin the moment.

I was just about to slit open the top, when a sweaty Jasper ran over. "Hey, you got one too? Wonder why they sent us something… We just talked not too long ago!"

"Yeah, if they just got here now, they must have written the letters the day we left," I said, calculating quickly.

Jazz paled. "You… you don't think something happened do you?"

My heart quickened, and my palms began to sweat. I hadn't thought of that. "Only one way to find out, isn't there?" I said.

We both hastily opened our letters, and I read mine with wide eyes.

"Dear Edward, I hope everything is going well wherever you are. There is something important I need to tell you, so don't read this unless you have time to be unfocused. I'm pregnant."

Whoa. That can't be true! I knew that Bella was on the pill. How could this… Then I remembered our conversation at the wedding about how she wanted to have a little kid of her own. I thought that she was smart enough to know that we couldn't have a kid now! I knew that she envied Alice and Jazz, but come on! At the same time, though, I was really excited. I would get to be a dad! Assuming I ever made it out of this hell-hole.

I looked over at Jasper. He was holding a little toy plane that was painted brightly. "What's that, Jazz?" I asked curiously.

He looked up, tears creating rivets through the dirt on his face. "A.J. painted it. He… he wrote me a note. So did Ali." He sniffed, and smeared the tears away. "He wanted me to have this," he gestured at the airplane, "so that he could always be flying with me."

"He came up with that all on his own?" I said, shocked.

"Yeah, pretty amazing isn't it?" he cracked a grin. "I have no clue where he gets it from, though. Ali and I aren't really that poetic."

"Kids surprise you all the time," I said. "And you learn something new every day!"

"That's true," he laughed. "Well, what did you get? You don't have to let me read it if you don't want me to."

"Nah, you can read it. Well, if you can read the scrawling," I joked.

"I've known her just as long as you, Ed. Now let me see before I tackle you."

"What happened to you don't have to let me read it, eh?" I chuckled. "But I only have half of the letter. Something happened to the rest of it."

I held it between us, and we both read it. Jasper looked up at me and grinned. "Congrats, buddy. That's going to be one cute kid, I guarantee you."

I blushed. "Thanks. You have a cute kid too, you know."

"Of course I know!" he laughed. I saw him put his hand in the pocket that the little airplane was in.

I heard a whistle. "Well that's sure a cliff-hanger if I ever heard one!" I heard James say with a chuckle behind me. "You didn't even get to receive her love." From his inside pocket, he pulled out the other half of my letter.

That was when I snapped. I stood quickly to my feet and whipped around, glaring at him. Laurent and Victoria were standing next to him, looking threatening. I saw Jasper in my peripheral vision stand up slowly and stand by my side. He put his hand on my arm in an attempt to calm me, but now I was high strung. I wanted to read that more than anything.

"It's got quite a touching ending, I assure you," James teased, playing with the paper. "Sweet girl, she must be. Better watch it when we get home, Cullen. I think I'd fancy her."

Victoria flinched at this, and he turned to console her. I took my opportunity and leapt forward and snatched at my letter. Before I even knew what had happened, I was smacked in the jaw and collapsed on the ground. James straddled my chest with his knees holding down my arms. I attempted to kick my legs, but Victoria was sitting on them. She looked skinny, but damn, she was heavy!

I heard a scuffle behind me, and heard a thud as Laurent brought down Jasper. James spit in my face, and I turned back to face him. "You really need to learn to respect your higher-ups, recruit," he growled. "For that, I don't think you are gonna get to see this letter." He pulled the second half of my letter out of his pocket and held a lighter up to it. "One… Two…"

Suddenly, James fell backward, blood billowing from the bullet wound in his chest. "James!" Victoria shrieked, getting up and pawing at him. I wiggled out from under his dead weight, searching for the letter. I saw it, finally, on the ground a few yards away. I sprinted over and dove at it. A strong wind blew and it fluttered skyward just out of my grasp.

"No!" I screamed as I jumped up to grab at it.

Jasper launched himself at me and tackled me to the ground. "You idiot! There's a sniper somewhere and you're prancing around like an easy target. Think about the kid that you're gonna have soon!" he yelled in my ear, clearing my head.

"We need to get out of here," I said. We army crawled toward the base, but that wind picked up again, and I noticed an airplane flying high over head.

There was a whistling, and a giant boom. Immediately, I was flying skyward. I hit something hard, and that's when everything went black.

**Thought you guys might want to see what Edward was going through!**

**You guys rock, thank you so much for all of the reviews.**

**Bella and Alice are 22 and Edward and Jasper are 23. A.J. is 3.**

**Please review again, guys! You are awesome**

**Jazzys-Confedrate1861**

**canadiantwilight**

**bookworm19065**

**TheSmallButSpazzedGirl**

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**kel09**


	14. Chapter 14

I'm not sure how long it's been, but Bella is 3 months along.

Chapter 14

No You Didn't

BPOV

There was a huge explosion, blasting the fine silt from the Earth's surface into the air, turning it a blood red color. Figures lay motionless across the ground for miles from this heinous disaster. I could see two of them slowly slithering away. "Wait!" I called after them, but my voice was snatched by the wind. They were out of view in no time, and I was left with the corpses of the fallen.

The wind began to blow more violently, and it cleared away most of the sand. I tried not to look too closely at the bodies, fearing who I would see. I heard a laugh, and I looked around, trying to find the other survivor, wondering who could possibly be laughing right now. I met her eyes and froze, watching her strawberry-blond hair float around her face like a halo she did not deserve.

It was Tanya Denali.

I woke up sweating, and thinking about that disturbing dream I'd just had. What in the world was Tanya doing there? She was jealous of me and Edward… but that didn't explain what she was doing in my dream. I felt like I was missing something. Not wanting to give myself more unnecessary strain, I decided to get up. It was six, and I was surprised Alice wasn't up yet. I took a quick shower, and then headed downstairs for my breakfast. Grabbing one of the little trail mix bags that AJ helped me make, I went into the living room and started watching random TV.

I turned it to some random movie about how this girl liked a guy, but he wouldn't be with her. So, she began to plot how to get him away from his girlfriend. For some reason, this movie gave me déjà vu. It was very weird.

I heard little feet coming down the stairs, and quickly changed the channel to something little boy appropriate. Oh. Sponge Bob. Yay. "Hiya, Bewwa," he said, giving me a smooch on the cheek. "Hewwo, babees," he said, giving my now showing stomach two kisses. He sat up with a look of concentration on his face. "Bewwa, whewe awe the babees gonna come fwom? They can't fit out you'we bewwy button, can they?"

I looked at him, not knowing at all what to say. This was a mom question. "Why don't you ask mommy, buddy. She can tell you all about it."

"Ok!" he said cheerfully, hopping off of the couch and trotting upstairs to find a still sleeping Alice. I flipped the T.V. back to the movie I was watching and relaxed.

"Thanks a lot, Bella," Alice grumbled as she came downstairs, carrying a puzzled AJ.

"But… the stowk wouwd haff to be weawwy big to cawwy a babee," he said. "What abowt the fat babees? Do they not get to come down untiw they'we skeeny?"

I couldn't help it; I laughed out loud. The logic of a three-year-old is so cute and innocent. How that even crossed his mind, I do not know.

"What's so funny, Bewwa?" he questioned.

"Oh, just you, silly boy," I giggled, trying to suppress my laughter.

"OH. Yeah, I am," he flashed an adorable grin at me before turning back to Alice and demanding that she answer his question.

"Well, all that happens is the stork captain has two storks carry the baby if they are… fat," she said, obviously uncomfortable.

I smothered my laughter against my hand. I caught Alice shooting, "I hate you," rays in my direction, but I just ignored her and continued eating my trail mix.

"So, if someone's haffing two babees, wike Bewwa, does two stowks cawwy dem?" AJ asked, continuing his interrogation. "If dey do, what happens if one stowk gets wost? Den the mommy wiww be missing a babee!"

"Well, that sometimes happens, but don't worry. Storks can always find the Mommy," Alice said, giving him a kiss on the forehead.

"Good 'cuz I don't want one of Bewwa's babees not to come. That wouwd be weawwy bad. Then I wouwdn't have anyone to pway with! We gotta have the bestest stowk bwing the babees down. Can you do that, Mommy?"

"I'll try. But you need to shut your mouth so you can eat breakfast."

"But how am I sposed to eat wiff my mouth cwosed?"

I laughed at his sweetness. I hoped that my kids would turn out adorable and loving like AJ. And healthy too, of course. My cell phone rang and I answered it quickly. "Hello?" I was worried that it might be one of Edward's officers being the bearer of bad news. Thankfully, it wasn't, but it was someone almost as bad.

"Bella, darling, how are you?" Tanya asked, her voice oozing sweetness.

"Besides the fact of my husband being away at war and I'm pregnant with his twins? I guess I'm okay," I said, trying my hardest not to snarl at her.

I could hear the tense silence on her line as she tried to process the information I'd just given her. "Oh, why isn't that wonderful! Congrats, Bella." Her façade was back, but I could tell it was seconds away from slipping.

"Thanks. What do you need?" I asked, straight to the point. I didn't want to spend any extra time talking to this skank.

"Well, I don't really need anything. I didn't know Edward and Jasper were at war! How awful," she schmoozed.

"I didn't say anything about Jasper," I said, my voice ice cold and no nonsense.

"Um… Alice told me, poor doll! Having little Arnold, or whatever the little snot's name is. It must be so hard."

"He is not a little snot, he is a little angel, and I would think twice before insulting someone close to me again, Tanya. And if you didn't know they were at war, then how could you have already heard from Alice?" I snapped in rapid fire succession. No one insulted AJ. He was basically my son, and I was not going to just sit here and listen to her rag on him.

"I… I… it just slipped my mind, really," she tried.

"I don't believe you, Tanya. You know something. I can feel it."

"Are you sure it's not just your little friend Alice? Last I checked, she was the freak who could see the future," Tanya sneered.

I began to shake with anger. "You are so lucky that you are across a country from me, or I would gladly walk over there and whip your ass into next week," I growled.

I heard a gasp behind me. "What's ass, Mommy?" AJ asked, alerting me of my audience. Alice shushed him and continued to listen in.

"Unfortunately, I'm pregnant and do not want to expend that kind of energy on swine like you," I spat angrily.

She tittered. "Well, well, now aren't we the violent type? I would call the police on account of you threatening me, but from what I've heard, you barely have enough money to shop at the dollar store."

"Are you going to tell me or not, Tanya? Because I have my ways of finding out, but I'd rather just finish this now. Without a middle man."

"You really want to know?"

I growled in response. She already knew what I want. Anything that concerned Edward made me crazed until I got it.

"Alright, but don't get mad at me when you curl up into the fetal position and sob yourself into next year."

"As if. Now tell me before I decide this is a waste of my time." I wouldn't actually hang up this close to discovering the truth, but I don't think Tanya knew that.

"Jeez, who put that stick up your butt," she mumbled. "I love Edward."

"Oh really?" My voice dripped with sarcasm. "Because I totally couldn't tell that when you attempted to seduce him on our HONEYMOON," I shrieked.

"That's not all. Keep your temper in check, or I may have to hang up. I decided a long time ago that if I couldn't have Edward, no one could. Why do you think he was without a girlfriend for so long? Because I talked to any girl that he could possibly be attracted to and told them to lay off if they wanted to live," she chuckled darkly. "Of course they listened."

My stomach twisted as I listened. I couldn't believe how obsessed this girl was with my husband! I didn't even know how to protect us from this psychotic girl, especially now that he was across the ocean. "Did it ever occur to you to just… move on?" I questioned.

"That's not exactly how I was raised. I always get what I want, and that's a fact," she said.

"So why'd you let me be with Edward? Gee, Tanya, I didn't think you liked me that much! Maybe I should stop openly hating you now," I sneered. I'm sorry, but this girl just brings out my wild side.

She laughed without humor. "Bella, you are so naïve sometimes. But we haven't gotten there just yet. The first reason that I didn't separate you instantly was our family's unfortunate alliance," she said with a sigh. "I couldn't go around messing with the man my family thought would forever be a virgin! And they, of course, love little, perfect Bella. No. I waited."

She was really starting to freak me out. I didn't know what was coming, but I knew that it couldn't possibly be good. Tanya making a house call to speak to me? Definitely not a good thing.

"And then suddenly the idea hit me. Do you know what my idea was, Bella? I surely would've thought you'd caught on by now if you were anywhere near as intelligent as Edward makes you out to be."

I stayed silent and blushed to my roots. I had no idea where this was going, and I was basically proving myself an idiot in her books.

She chuckled. "Well, well. I guess Edward is a teensy bit too proud of his trophy wife. Come now, Bella. You must have surely noticed the coincidence? Have you not put two and two together?... No? Well, see if you can now."

She waited in silence as I thought over what she was saying. A coincidence… but what? I didn't have the faintest idea, but I continued to tax my brain.

"Maybe you just can't remember that far back," she said. "It would have interrupted your honeymoon, if I am correct."

Edward was enlisted. I knew that. So were Emmett and Jasper, which was weird. Was that the coincidence? "Edward, Emmett, and Jasper were all drafted, if that's what you mean."

"Very good, Bella. Well, this is taking long than I expected. Now, do I really need to spell this all out for you? That really would take a while, but at the rate we're going, it might actually be faster."

I suddenly understood, and the phone almost slipped out of my hand. "You… you did this?" I gasped in astonishment. There was no way to describe the shock that I was feeling.

"Oh yes, Bella. I did. When you know the right people and what they want, you can get almost anything. Besides, someone like me? I can make any man bow to my needs. Just a little persuasion…" I could practically see her arrogant, smirking face.

"You're disgusting."

"Well, now. How terribly rude! Too bad your hubby's away at war. I made sure to speed that up as well. It helped that he was naturally good at what he does. I sent the blond with him too. Why not? Then they can at least suffer together."

"He has a son. A sweet, adorable, little boy who misses his dad more that you could ever fathom. How could you do this, Tanya?" I cried.

"I already told you, Bella. Edward is mine. If he somehow makes it back alive, you'd better watch out. You'll be next." I heard the beginning of her cackle before the phone fell out of my hand and clattered on the floor.

That bitch! But I was most concerned with her threatening to come after me. I didn't know what lengths she would go to, but I was sure she would silence Alice and AJ as well if they stood in her way. I could hear Alice trying to talk to me in some other part of my mind, but I couldn't seem to get out of the dark place I was in now.

When I heard AJ begin to cry, I snapped out of it. I blinked and stared up at Alice. Hidden behind her stormy eyes was a fury so dark that I nearly flinched away. I knew she wanted to discuss my conversation with me, but we couldn't exactly do that with AJ with us.

"Bewwa!" he wailed, tears streaming down his face. "What's wong? You was cwying and I got scawed that you was huwt. You not huwt, awe you?" he said in his rapid fire style. "Cuz if you was huwt then the babees wood be huwt and then I woodn't get a wiw sibwing!" He continued to babble, and I stroked his hair as he patted my stomach.

"We need to go visit Carlisle," Alice said, suddenly. I knew that we needed to tell him about this, but I didn't know if I would be able to without collapsing. "Today, Bella," Alice said, seemingly reading my thoughts. "You can do it, I know you can."

I sighed, but agreed. We hopped in the car and sped off to Carlisle and Esme's house for one conversation that I would love to miss.

When we got there, Esme was standing on the porch with her duster in hand. "Bella? Alice? AJ? What are you guys doing here?" she said with a welcoming smile as she descended the steps.

Alice towed a grinning AJ toward his grandma saying, "We have some rather shocking news, Esme."

Esme looked at me for some more information, but all I could do was shrug. I was practically comatose, and I was surprised Alice hadn't begun tugging me around like AJ.

"Esme! Hiya! What awe you doin outside? Whewe's Cawiwe?" AJ fired off in rapid succession. He ran at Esme and jumped into her open arms.

"Well, I was just doing some spring cleaning, you know. Carlisle is in his study completing some work, I believe. Would you like to go see him?"

"Ooh yes, yes, yes! Can I, Momma? Pweeeeese?" he begged, turning to Alice.

"Actually, Esme, we need to talk to the two of you. Maybe AJ could go watch a movie…?" Alice hinted subtly.

"I wanna watch a movie! Can I watch Fox and the Hound? I wove that one!" he cheered, following a confused Esme inside. She kept looking back at Alice and me, but we had no expression. Alice was literally pushing me forward; I was in such a daze. I just couldn't believe Tanya could be such a demon! I know that she's a bitch, but that is beyond acceptable.

We set AJ up in front of the TV and went upstairs to Carlisle's study. When we walked in, he looked up from his books. "Bella, Alice! To what do we owe the pleasure? It's not time for our check-up already, is it?"

"No, no, Carlisle. Bella just had something she needed to tell you. And Esme," Alice said quickly, pushing me down onto a chair.

Carlisle leaned forward across his desk. "What is it, Bella?" He was using his doctor voice, so I knew he wanted a full story of why I was acting so catatonic.

I licked my lips to moisten them, then began to speak. I told the story quickly, and made sure to include all of the grueling details. I kept my eyes on Carlisle, but in my peripheral vision, I could see Esme looking more and more shocked. She looked practically murderous by the time I'd finished.

"How dare she!" Esme yelled when I was finished. Alice shushed her and looked meaningfully at the door from which we could hear the cheery tunes of The Fox and the Hound.

Carlisle put his hands on his face and sighed. He was really upset, and how could I blame him? His son has been sent away to war for no more reason than a jealous girl wanting revenge. "First thing's first," he said after a minute. "We need to call Carmen and notify her of Tanya's misdeeds. Then maybe something can be done about her."

Esme ran out of the room and reappeared moments later with the house phone which she handed wordlessly to Carlisle. "Why don't you two go talk to AJ? I'm sure he's in need of some company," Carlisle said before dialing. We were about to argue, but a crash from downstairs emphasized his point.

"I'll make some noodles," Esme said as she breezed out the door with Alice right behind her.

I stayed seated for a moment, still too shocked to move. Carlisle came over and knelt down in front of me. "Bella, you need to relax. Edward and Jasper will both be fine. They are strong men who are exceedingly good at what they do. Believe me, if I could –" His voice broke. "I can assure that I will be doing everything in my power to right Tanya's wrong, Bella. My son will not die without seeing his children." He said that was such conviction that it somewhat shocked me out of my daze. Carlisle gave me a quick kiss on the forehead before returning to his chair. "Please leave my office now, Bella. This conversation might not be pleasant."

I didn't need to be asked again. I rose unsteadily and walked quickly out of his office. I kept thinking about what he said about Edward seeing his kids. My hand went instinctively to my stomach, and all I could think was that I hope he is right.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Contained

EPOV

I woke up groggy, not knowing what was going on. Groaning, I sat up and the room before me began to spin. "What the…" I trailed off as I took in my surroundings. I was in some dark room, below ground from the looks of it. Many other men and women were curled up around me sleeping, but their slumber did not look peaceful. What was I doing here? And where was Jasper? Frantically, I looked around for him. I finally spotted his blond head towering above everyone else. His hair was so dirty, it almost looked brown.

I stood up shakily and began to weave my way between the curled up bodies to him. Every step hurt and I felt like someone had hit my head with a meat cleaver. Eventually, I made it to Jazz, only kicking a minimal number of people along the way. "Jasper, where are we? What's going on?" I didn't like how my voice sounded. I sounded like a little kid, afraid of the dark when there was nothing there.

"We've been captured," he said without emotion as he turned to face me. "They bombed camp and took the survivors. I'm glad you're finally up. You were out for a few days, I think."

A few days? How could I have been out for a few days? "So… we're stuck here?" I said, my voice filled with desperation. I would never see my beautiful wife or my parents or that little baby who was beginning to grow. This couldn't be happening.

"Not if we can do anything about it," he said with a sneaky grin as he pulled a paper out of his pocket. "We're busting out of here. Tonight."

BPOV

My stomach was becoming progressively bigger. I was thirty weeks along now, and I didn't understand how it could grow any bigger. Carlisle was making me stay on bed rest to hopefully prolong the time they got to spend inside me. I frequently felt kicks, and even though they were sometimes painful, I loved the reminder that there was actually someone in there. Two someones.

AJ was not at all the jealous type. In fact, he couldn't wait for them to come. "If it's a boy, he can stay in my woom with me! But not a giww cuz giwws have cooties!"

"Actually, they're going to be getting my room, but if there is a boy, I'm sure he can stay with you when he's bigger," I told him.

"Why don't you know if they'we boys or giwws? You can find out! Cawiwe said so!"

"I know, but I like surprises. I want to wait for their birthday." The truth was, I was a little scared to see what gender they would be. Deep down, I really wanted at least one little Edward running around, but I wouldn't be disappointed with girls. How could I be?

"When's theiw biwfday? Soon I hope!"

"Hopefully in ten weeks," I said, but ten weeks is really wishful thinking. Twins are lucky to make it to the thirty week mark, so I was happy to comply with Carlisle's wish to have me on bed rest. At most, he estimated that they weighed about three pounds, which isn't very much for a maximum.

Today was Alice's day off, so she and AJ were going to lunch and a movie together. Unfortunately, that means I would be stuck alone at home. Esme offered to come stay with me, but I politely denied. Lately, I have been feeling the need to curl up in and cry. I don't know if it's from all of these hormones or what, but I needed a good cry.

Before they left, AJ gave me a big hug and said, "See yah latew, Bewwa! Bye bye baby one! Adios baby two!" That's what he had decided to call them since we didn't know their gender or names yet. At first, he wanted to call them puppy and kitty because he has always wanted a pet, but I put my foot down there. That was just weird.

Alice gave me a hug too and said, "We're just a phone call away, Bella. Promise you'll call if…" she trailed off, obviously knowing what I was planning, but not knowing how to voice it.

"I… I promise, Alice," I said, and attempted to give her a winning smile. I don't think it worked, but she left anyway. As soon as she was gone, I sat down to begin my long cry, but the doorbell rang. I pushed back my tears and grumbled as I awkwardly hoisted myself up from the couch. It was getting harder and harder to move, and I travelled the hallways cautiously, not wanting to injure myself or the babies.

The doorbell rang again, impatiently.

"I'm comin, I'm comin," I mumbled to myself.

Again, it rang; this time, the ringer held down the button so it was a continuous peal.

"I'm coming!" I yelled to whoever was out there. Sometimes it was terribly annoying even having a doorbell. I may have to disconnect it.

Finally, I made it to the door, and threw it open without looking through the peephole. When I saw who was standing out there, I gasped. "Emmett?" I shrieked. "What are you doing here?" A dimpled grin broke out across his chiseled face, and a smiling woman stepped out from behind him. "Rose!" I cheered. "Oh my gosh, I thought you guys were in Canada?"

"And I thought you were skinny," Emmett said with a chuckle. "Guess my little virgin knocked you up before he could get away, huh?" He winked at me with a huge smile on his face. Until Rose slapped his head, that is.

"Be more respectful, Em!" she scolded. "Just because-"

"Hey, hey, hey! We are in front of a lady, babe. Can't this wait?" he begged.

She huffed, but nodded.

"Besides," he whispered in my ear, "I've heard it all before!"

"And I heard that!" Rosalie snapped.

"Long drive?" I guessed.

"You have no idea. I would tell you about it, but I don't feel comfortable standing out here and discussing my life. How should I know how nosy your neighbors are?" Emmett said.

"Well, I don't know either, so I guess we are in the same boat on that one! Come on in, you guys. I want to hear all about it."

I led them into the living room and sank down into the couch. "Prop my feet up, will you Em?" I asked sweetly. He gave me an incredulous look. "What? Pregnant ladies have swollen feet!" I said defensively. He grumbled but brought over some pillows for my feet. "Ah, much better," I said with a smile. "Now tell me what's been going on with you! No one has heard for you since… well… you know."

"We were on the run for a while. Even the Canadians wanted us to get away. But I know a couple of good guys up there-"

Rose rolled her eyes and said, "Their names were Porkchop and Buster. That pretty much says it all."

Emmett pouted. "Hey, babe, don't diss my homies!"

"Em, stop trying to be a ganster. You can't, okay?" Rosalie snapped.

"What! I'm the most pimpin' guy I know!"

"That's because you hang out with total tools like Porky and Boo Boo."

"It's Porkchop and Buster!"

"Well-"

"Guys!" I finally shouted. They both turned towards me. "Not that I don't love to hear you two bicker, but seriously, can you just tell the story with minimum commentary?"

"Anyway," Emmett continued, "they let us stay with them and we took up new names. I was Butch and Rosie was Eloise. It was confusing at times, but we made it through."

"How'd you possibly get back in the states?" I asked, in awe.

He shrugged. "We just got lucky, I guess. Hopped the border like it was a sidewalk crack and bam! we were back!"

"I'm glad you guys came here. Have you seen Carlisle and Esme yet?"

"Naw, we never made it over to them. I wanted to see my second favorite girl first." He gave me a wink and Rosalie scowled. "Anyway," Emmett continued, oblivious to his wife's discomfort, "what have you guys been up to down here?"

"Nothing. Honestly, I just watch AJ while Alice works. She was off today so they decided to do some bonding and I got to stay home since I'm on bed rest," I said with a sigh.

"Ah, the ups and downs of pregnancy," Emmett said as if he was an expert.

"How long are you guys gonna stay here?" I asked. "I'd offer to let you stay here, but it's not my house and we are pretty pressed on room."

"I could totally give you some cash, Bells. Me and Rosie made it big in Canada!"

"Big is an overstatement," Rosalie said with an eye roll. "He thinks that just because he finally got a job, we can go handing money to every homeless person in Seattle. Trust me, it was a long ride here."

"No, Em. Alice is making enough for us to scrape by, and once the kids are born, I'll be getting a job myself."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Kids! Jeez, you two sure were busy," Emmett said with a smirk. Rose looked to slap him again, but the doorbell rang before she could strike. Em hopped up and jogged to the door saying, "Stay sitting ladies, I got this!"

"Bella may be on bed rest, but I am perfectly capable of getting the door," Rosalie grumbled just loud enough for Emmett to hear. He chuckled, then checked the peep hole before throwing open the door.

There was a muffled conversation, and I couldn't make anything out. All I could hear was the deep voice of another man.

The door shut and Emmett locked it with a click. I looked curiously at Rosalie, but she was just staring at the door waiting for Emmett to come back. He began walking back, and when I saw his face, I was instantly terrified. It was drawn and dark, without even the glimmer of a smile to be found.

"Em," I gasped. "What… Who was that?"

He took a deep breath and turned to look at me. I was shocked to see his eyes rimmed with red. "Bells… Jasper's dead."

My eyes widened and I stifled a sob. I thought of his little boy and Alice. What would we do without him? I looked back up at Emmett and realized he had something else to say. "What? Emmett what are you holding back?" My voice was becoming hysterical. Please don't let him say his name. Please, please, please –

"Edward was with him. They… they think he's dead too."

My world was crashing down, but I held onto that one word. "Think?" I gasped.

"Bella, so many guys were shot down, they can't identify them. There weren't any survivors. All I'm saying is they didn't find his body."

I couldn't do anything except burst into tears. Rosalie instantly wrapped her arms around me, but those weren't the arms I wanted. The arms I wanted, I most likely would never feel again. I heard her mumble something about calling Alice, but I was too wrapped up in my depression that I couldn't respond. Nothing could be worse than this pain.

That's when I felt a pain in my stomach, and I screamed out. Rosalie was freaking out by now, "Bella, what is it? Bella?"

"Rose, I think the babies are coming."


End file.
